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US Ambassador Politely Asks UN Colleagues to Stop Showing Up Drunk to Meetings

March 5, 2013, 6:53 am
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The United Nations is a pretty fun place. The headquarters hosts all kinds of cultural events. Everyone's open-minded about the dress code. Delegates can even show up hammered to budget negotiations. Or at least they used to be able to.
At a General Assembly budget committee meeting on Monday, the United States ambassador for management and reform at the UN stood up to scold his colleagues for always showing up drunk to negotiations. "There has always been a good and responsible tradition of a bit of alcohol improving a negotiation, but we're not talking about a delegate having a nip at the bar," said Joseph "The Fun Police" Torsella. "We make the modest proposal that the negotiating rooms should in future be an inebriation-free zone."
This is apparently not a new problem. The budget committee meetings tend to run late into the night at this time of year, as delegates struggle to meet deadlines. Some diplomats spoke up after Torsella's very public shaming and said it's not uncommon for delegates to show up visibly drunk to negotiations. "On one occasion the note-taker who was meant to be recording the talks was so intoxicated he had to be replaced," one unnamed diplomat told the press. We're not talking about cheerful, oops-I-had-a-glass-of-chardonnay-at-dinner drunk either. Another unnamed diplomat said that delegates were showing up "falling down drunk." Torsella himself mentioned one incident where a delegate got so hammered that he barfed, though it's unclear where.
What's sort of silly about Torsella politely asking these leaders of the world to show up sober to work is the simple fact that's it's just a request. It's not like the US ambassador can dissolve the committee due to misbehavior, though he did say "we will respond accordingly" if the party animals can't clean up their acts.
On that note, leave it to the country with the high drinking age and fewest vacation days to tell other countries how to get stuff done. Like Torsella said, a couple drinks can really take the edge off of tense negotiations, and everybody knows it. Heck, the Houses of Parliament in London is home to several pubs and bars. 
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Gaza marathon: UN cancels race over Hamas ban on women

March 5, 2013, 7:59 am
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The UN agency which organises Gaza's marathon has cancelled the event, blaming the refusal of the territory's governing Islamist Hamas movement to allow women to run.
The marathon was scheduled for Sunday and would have been Gaza's third.
Hamas said the marathon could go ahead if "local traditions" were respected.
Conservative elements in Gaza have sometimes complained about mixing between the sexes, especially in schools and at sporting events.
The UN Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) said in a statement that it had taken "the disappointing decision" after "discussions with the authorities in Gaza who have insisted that no women should participate".
Unrwa "is working on a programme of other events, which will be forwarded to those interested as soon as possible," the statement adds.
'No mixing'
"We regret this decision to cancel the marathon but we don't want men and women running together," Abdessalam Siyyam, cabinet secretary of the Hamas government, told AFP news agency.
"We did not tell Unrwa to cancel the marathon and we haven't prevented it, but we laid down some conditions: We don't want women and men mixing in the same place," he added.
The Palestinian territory is almost exactly marathon length from top to bottom.
Last year, thousands of runners braved freezing conditions to take part, including some women. Palestinian runner Nader al-Masri won the event on its first two occasions.
In previous years, Hamas has supported the race and provided security.
In the past there have been attacks on the UN's summer camps for children in Gaza after complaints that boys were allowed to mix with girls, the BBC's Jon Donnison reports.
The marathon was due to be part of the UN's fundraising efforts in order to run those camps, our correspondent adds.
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Chill out: Researchers engineer mice that can’t feel cold

March 5, 2013, 5:48 pm
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Researchers have genetically engineered mice that cannot feel cold temperatures.

The findings were published in the Journal of Neuroscience. The article explains how the researchers were able to block and isolate receptors that are connected to the nerves that respond to cold.

Interestingly, the researchers were able to leave the nerve responses for other sensations unaffected. In the trials, the genetically engineered mice avoided areas with higher-than-normal temperatures, but showed no measurable reaction to areas with extreme cold temperatures that would normally drive them away.
The findings suggest that not all sensory responses are hardwired at levels of higher functioning, such as the brain or spinal cord.

The researchers say their objective is to eventually create drugs that could dull pain in patients without completely numbing their senses. Medical researchers at places like the National Institutes of Health have for years suggested that cooling analgesia could be used as an effective way of treating pain and inflammation.
You can listen to a podcast on the findings at the Scientific American Website.
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Soviet war veteran found in Afghanistan after 33 years

March 5, 2013, 5:55 pm
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A Soviet soldier who went missing in Afghanistan nearly 33 years ago has been found living with Afghans in the western province of Herat.
The soldier is semi-nomadic, has the adopted Afghan name Sheikh Abdullah and practises herbal medicine, Russia's RIA news agency reports.
An ethnic Uzbek, he was found by ex-Soviet veterans of the war.
He was wounded in battle in 1980, only months after the Soviet invasion, and was rescued by local Afghans.
The head of the official veterans' committee, Ruslan Aushev, said Sheikh Abdullah - real name Bakhretdin Khakimov - was tracked down in Shindand district after a year-long search. He had served with a motorised rifle unit.
The committee lists 264 Soviet soldiers as still missing in Afghanistan, half of them Russians. In the first decade after the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 the committee found 29 missing soldiers - and 22 of them decided to return home, while seven opted to stay in Afghanistan, RIA reports.
The committee says it is determined to track all of the missing men down.
Sheikh Abdullah was married but his wife died and he has no children.
The committee's deputy chairman, Alexander Lavrentyev, said Sheikh Abdullah bore the scars of his war wounds - a shaking hand and shoulder and nervous tic. The ex-soldier, from the city of Samarkand, was able to name his former place of residence in Uzbekistan and the names of his relatives, Mr Lavrentyev said.
He understood Russian but spoke it very poorly.
In 2009 the BBC's Lyse Doucet interviewed two ex-soldiers from Ukraine, now Muslims and living with Afghans in northern Afghanistan.
Some 15,000 Red Army soldiers and more than a million Afghans were killed in a decade of fighting between a Soviet-backed government in Kabul and mujahideen fighters armed by the West and Islamic neighbours.
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Health Benefits of Pineapple

March 6, 2013, 12:14 am
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Pineapples belonging to the Bromeliaceae family originated in America, but it was the Europeans who first discovered this tropical fruit in the 1600's. The cultivation of this plant spread far and wide to all tropical regions of the world.

This popular fruit is eaten raw or is an important ingredient in various pies. It is widely used to flavor ice creams and shakes. Pineapple toppings and puddings are a common dessert in many cultures.



Pineapple grows and ripens in the plant. Once plucked out, no method will help to ripen it further. It will remain the same way it was when plucked. The taste and sweetness of the fruit depends on the smell of the fruit. More the flavor of the fruit more is the sweetness.

Many are aware that this fruit is rich in vitamins. What many are not aware is that pineapple has a host of other health benefits. It has properties that help to fight against various illness and sicknesses such as sinusitis, arthritis, indigestion, infections of the stomach and intestines. It helps to ease indigestion because it is filled with proteolytic enzyme that breaks down protein thereby promoting digestion.

Pineapple is rich in manganese that is necessary to build strong bones and connective tissues. It also has anti–inflammatory properties which when taken regularly, helps to reduce the pain (mild relief) associated with arthritis in elderly.

Drinking a glass of pineapple juice regularly helps to prevent mucous accumulation in the throat. It brings out the mucous during a productive cough and clears the lungs because of its high vitamin C content.

Another benefit of consuming pineapple is that it helps to prevent blood clots. It is a rich source of anti-coagulant. So, people who suffer from bleeding disorders are advised to consume a bowl of pineapples daily.

Adding on to the benefits is the ability to get a healthy oral cavity. Pineapples are acidic in nature; this helps them to prevent any bacterial growth in the mouth thus discouraging plaque growth in the buccal mucosa (the mucous membranes lining the inside of the mouth).

The good news for pregnant women is that consuming pineapple helps reduce morning sickness. Those suffering from terrible morning sickness can consume a bowl of pineapple on empty stomach to help ease this problem.

Go ahead, grab a pineapple and savor this fruit. Enjoy the surplus benefits and stay fit.

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The 10 Best and Worst Foods for Sleep

March 6, 2013, 12:15 am
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Ah, sleep. It's something we relentlessly crave, but we never seem to get enough of it. Aside from the daily stressors in life, there's one big thing that can keep you from snoozing -- your diet. Here, the best and worst foods to eat for sleep.


Best: Cereal and Milk
Your go-to breakfast staple can also moonlight as the perfect pre-bedtime snack. Eating a combination of carbohydrates and protein enables our bodies to produce the "happy hormone" serotonin, which in turn produces melatonin, a neurotransmitter that has a calming effect, explains Danielle Omar, a DC-based registered dietitian. Just stay away from sugary cereals to avoid getting a sugar high right before bed. Other safe nighttime snack bets include cheese and crackers, cottage cheese and fruit, or oatmeal with milk for a similar soothing effect.

Worst: Protein
While protein is a vital part of our daily diets, too much of it means less sleep at the end of the day. "High-protein diets have a tendency to give you more energy and not calm you down," says Dr. Michael J. Breus, author of The Sleep Doctor's Diet Plan. Instead, remember to munch on a high-carb, low-protein snack that's no more than 200 calories before bed.

Best: Passionfruit
Though not always available in the nearest supermarket, it's worth finding if you're in need of some serious shuteye. Passionfruit contains somniferum, which has sleep-inducing properties. Omar recommends eating the fruit as is, or try it as a juice or tea.

Worst: Alcohol
Sure, your eyelids may start drooping after that second glass of wine, but chances are you'll have a restless night of sleep once you turn in. "After drinking alcohol, usually you get drowsy and fall asleep," says Omar. "But you don't get into the REM stage of sleep." When that happens, you're kept from achieving a deep, uninterrupted sleep -- as the bags under your eyes will tell you the next day.


Best: Bananas
Often called "a pill in a peel" by experts, bananas contain high levels of magnesium, a mineral that acts as a muscle relaxant, which can help us start snoozing faster. Also extremely helpful is the whopping 422 milligrams of potassium one banana contains, since studies have shown potassium can help regulate sleep patterns and nerves.

Worst: Fatty Foods
The fattier your dinner is, the less sleep you'll get, warns Dr. Breus. Eating foods high in fat (especially ones that are greasy or fried) will likely cause uncomfortable heartburn or stomach issues when you lie down. Stick to low-fat snacks and make sure to eat at least two hours before hitting the hay.

Best: Cherry Juice
A 2011 study published in the European Journal of Nutrition found that tart cherry juice is a great sleep aid. Adults who drank two glasses of cherry juice daily slept an average of 39 minutes longer than usual. Turns out cherries boast some of the highest levels of melatonin among natural foods, explains Dr. Breus. Try a small nighttime smoothie to start dreaming with 1 cup concentrated tart cherry juice, half a banana, 1/2 cup soymilk, and 5 crushed ice cubes.

Worst: Spicy Food
Not only will that Thai takeout leave your mouth on fire, it may cause nightmares, says Dr. Breus. "I've had patients who've said when they eat a spicy meal it affects their dreams at night." Backing up these claims is a study published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology, which found that subjects who ingested Tabasco sauce and mustard with their dinner had elevated body temperatures during their first sleep cycle, causing sleep disruption and more awake time at night.

Best: Warm Milk
Most of us were fed warm milk as babies and toddlers to help us fall asleep, but the science behind why the drink makes us sleepy is lacking, says Dr. Breus. "There's not enough tryptophan in a glass of warm milk -- you'd have to drink a gallon and a half of it to feel any effect." It's likely that warm milk works as a placebo for inducing sleep because it's comforting. Hey, whatever works, right?



Worst: Caffeine
The effects of caffeine may be obvious, but what's not so obvious is that the stimulant stays active in our bodies for eight to ten hours. "The effects vary from person to person, but by the afternoon you should cut off the caffeine," says Omar. And that doesn't just mean that third cup of coffee after lunch. "That means chocolate too!" she says.
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7 Surprising Health Benefits of Parsley

March 6, 2013, 12:16 am
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Parsley is a pretty little Mediterranean herb that lends a sprinkling of color to your plate. But let’s not think of it as just a garnish—after all, parsley has been around for more than 2000 years, and boasts some time-tested benefits that you should know about.

  • Parsley is rich in many vital vitamins, including Vitamin C,  B 12, K and A. This means parsley keeps your immune system strong, tones your bones and heals the nervous system, too.

  • It helps flush out excess fluid from the body, thus supporting kidney function. However, the herb contains oxalates, which can cause problems for those with existing kidney and gall bladder problems.

  • Regular use of parsley can help control your blood pressure. The folic acid in this herb is like a tonic for your heart.

  • Parsley essential oil, when massaged into the scalp, may reduce hair loss.

  • Use parsley daily, and you’ll feel relief from joint pain. That’s because the herb has anti-inflammatory properties.

  • Parsley tea relaxes stiff muscles and encourages digestion.

  • Studies indicate that parsley—especially its essential oil—may have a role in inhibiting cancerous tumors. In fact, scientists have billed it a ‘chemoprotective’ food.
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Health Benefits Of Consuming Salmon Fish

March 6, 2013, 12:18 am
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Salmon's reputation as a healthy food is largely based on its unusual omega-3 fatty acid content. It is normal for 4 ounces of salmon to contain at least 2 grams of omega-3 fats - more than the average U.S. adult gets from all food over the course of several days. This omega-3 fat comes in two forms: EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). However, salmon is also rich in other properties, such as vitamin D and selenium, each of which have their own powerful health benefits.
Intriguing research into the protein and amino acid content of this fish has found that salmon also contains small bioactive protein molecules (called bioactive peptides) that may provide protection for joint cartilage, support with insulin effectiveness, and control of inflammation in the digestive tract. One thing to bear in mind, though, is that all of these benefits are derived from the consumption of wild salmon, and the farmed kind is an entirely different kettle of fish.

Here are 6 health benefits of salmon:

Inflammation
Research on fish intake and joint protection has shown that the omega-3 fatty acids found in salmon can be converted by the body into three types of compounds that prevent chronic inflammation. What's especially interesting is that it combines these anti-inflammatory benefits with anti-inflammatory relief related not to fat but to protein.
Recent studies show the presence of bioactive peptides in salmon may support healthy joint cartilage and other types of tissue. One bioactive peptide named calcitonin has been of special interest because it is also made in the human body by the thyroid gland, and we know that it helps regulate and stabilize the balance of collagen and minerals in bone and surrounding tissue. Such peptides may combine with salmon's omega-3 molecules to provide powerful anti-inflammatory benefits for joints. The incredibly high content of vitamin D and selenium found in salmon have also been shown to be key agents in preventing unwanted inflammation.

Cognitive Function
Much research has proven docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) to be the most important fat found in the brain, and the substantial content of this omega-3 fatty acid in salmon explains the benefits of salmon intake for thinking and the decreased risk of certain brain-related problems. Salmon intake is associated with decreased chances of depression, hostility in some studies of teenagers, and decreased cognitive decline in older people. Some studies have also demonstrated an association between IQ and a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids.
Of particular interest is the recent discovery of what are called protectins. These are special compounds made from DHA which studies have shown play an important role as anti-inflammatory molecules, particularly when produced by nerve tissue. There has been speculation that some of the brain-related value of omega-3 fish intake may be due to conversion of the DHA in these fish to protectins that can aid in preventing excessive inflammation. Vitamin D has also been shown to be a major factor in supporting cognitive function, and salmon abounds in this nutrient.

Cancer Prevention
Vitamin D has been shown to play a crucial role in lowering the risk of several types of cancer, including breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer. Salmon contains particularly high levels of vitamin D and selenium, which is also associated with prevention of certain types of cancer, including colorectal cancer.
Omega-3 fat is also connected to decreased risk for several types of cancer, including colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, and breast cancer. Regular omega-3 intake has been proven particularly effective against the blood cell or lymph cell-related cancers such as leukemia, multiple myeloma, and non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Eye Health
It is well known that fish oil is good for improving vision. It also helps in avoiding age related macular degeneration. The omega-3 fats found in salmon have been demonstrated to be effective in combating both macular degeneration and chronic dry eye. In the case of macular degeneration, two servings of salmon per week is enough to significantly decrease risk.

Studies on dry eye have begun to focus specifically on the neuroprotectins made from DHA in salmon and other omega-3 fish. These omega-3 derived molecules might aid in preventing chronic dry eye by alleviating inflammation.

Cardiovascular Health
Intake of salmon has been connected to a decreased risk of numerous cardiovascular problems, such as heart attack, stroke, heart arrhythmia and high blood pressure. Consumption of omega-3-containing salmon is also linked with improved metabolic markers for cardiovascular disease.
The high levels of the antioxidant selenium in salmon have also been shown to be especially important in cardiovascular protection.

Skin and Hair Health
The omega-3s found in salmon lock moisture into skin cells, encouraging the production of strong collagen and elastin fibers, which contribute to more youthful looking skin. Omega-3s have also been known to alleviate skin blemishes and maintain a good luster of the hair. Omega-3s provide nourishment to hair follicles, helping hair grow healthy and preventing hair loss. A rich supply of proteins is also important for hair growth. The high protein content of salmon helps maintain strong, healthy hair.

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Google Says the FBI Is Secretly Spying on Some of Its Customers

March 6, 2013, 6:01 am
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The terrorists apparently would win if Google told you the exact number of times the Federal Bureau of Investigation invoked a secret process to extract data about the media giant’s customers.
That’s why it is unlawful for any record-keeper to disclose it has received a so-called National Security Letter. But under a deal brokered with the President Barack Obama administration, Google on Tuesday published a “range” of times it received National Security Letters demanding it divulge account information to the authorities without warrants.
It was the first time a company has ever released data chronicling the volume of National Security Letter requests.
National Security Letters allow the government to get detailed information on Americans’ finances and communications without oversight from a judge. The FBI has issued hundreds of thousands of NSLs and has even been reprimanded for abusing them. The NSLs are written demands from the FBI that compel internet service providers, credit companies, financial institutions and businesses like Google to hand over confidential records about their customers, such as subscriber information, phone numbers and e-mail addresses, websites visited and more as long as the FBI says the information is “relevant” to an investigation.
But in its talks with the authorities over releasing figures, Google said national security was on the mind of the Obama administration.
“You’ll notice that we’re reporting numerical ranges rather than exact numbers. This is to address concerns raised by the FBI, Justice Department and other agencies that releasing exact numbers might reveal information about investigations. We plan to update these figures annually,” Richard Salgado, a Google legal director, wrote in a blog post.
Salgado was not available for comment.
What makes the government’s position questionable is that it is required by Congress to disclose the number of times the bureau issues National Security Letters. In 2011, the year with the latest available figures, the FBI issued 16,511 National Security Letters pertaining to 7,201 different persons. (.pdf)
Google said the number of accounts connected to National Security letters ranged between “1000-1999″ for each of the reported years other than 2010. In that year, the range was “2000-2999.”
Google noted that the FBI may “obtain ‘the name, address, length of service, and local and long distance toll billing records’ of a subscriber to a wire or electronic communications service. The FBI can’t use NSLs to obtain anything else from Google, such as Gmail content, search queries, YouTube videos or user IP addresses.”
Google often must disclose that data via other means, as described here.
Under the Patriot Act, Google or others who receive a NSL must disclose the sought-after information if the authorities say the request is “relevant to an authorized investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities.”
National Security Letters are a powerful tool because they do not require court approval, and they come with a built-in gag order, preventing recipients from disclosing to anyone that they have even received an NSL. An FBI agent looking into a possible anti-terrorism case can self-issue an NSL to a credit bureau, ISP or phone company with only the sign-off of the special agent in charge of their office.
What’s more, the lack of court oversight raises the possibility for extensive abuse.
In 2007 a Justice Department Inspector General audit found that the FBI had indeed abused its authority and misused NSLs on many occasions. After 9/11, for example, the FBI paid multimillion-dollar contracts to AT&T and Verizon requiring the companies to station employees inside the FBI and to give these employees access to the telecom databases so they could immediately service FBI requests for telephone records. The IG found that the employees let FBI agents illegally look at customer records without paperwork and even wrote NSLs for the FBI.
That said, we should applaud Google for trying to be transparent on the issue, regardless of the Obama administration’s preposterous national-security concerns.
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'The Nintendo Medal'? New Military Award for Drone Pilots Draws Hill Protest

March 6, 2013, 6:04 am
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 The Pentagon's newest military honor, symbolized by a two-inch bronze medallion, has sparked fierce debate over the nation's growing corps of drone pilots and cyberwarriors and how to commend their service, which happens far from an actual battlefield.

The Distinguished Warfare Medal, approved by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta last month, is the military's first new combat-related medal in nearly 70 years. It is intended to recognize extraordinary contributions to combat operations by a service member from afar and will rank as the eighth highest individual award behind the Medal of Honor.

But placement of the new medal in ahead of the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, which are given for valor in the line of fire, has created significant stir.
Critics have panned it as the "Chair-borne Medal," "the Nintendo Medal," "Distant Warfare Medal" and "the Purple Buttocks," alluding to fact that computer-based warriors do their work from a chair, among other names.

Top veterans groups and a rare bipartisan alliance on Capitol Hill are intensely lobbying the Pentagon and President Obama to downgrade the award.
"We are supportive of recognizing and rewarding such extraordinary service, but in the absence of the service member exposing him or herself to imminent mortal danger, we cannot support the DWM taking precedence above the Bronze Star and Purple Heart," a bipartisan group of 48 lawmakers wrote new Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Monday.

"Possibility of death or grievous bodily harm" are key factors that should elevate recipients of those awards above others who didn't face those risks, the group wrote.

The letter was penned by 34 Republicans and 14 Democrats, including Republican Reps. Joe Wilson of South Carolina and Darrell Isa of California and Democratic Reps. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Susan Davis of California.
Officials with the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars said they have already been pressing the administration to downgrade the award, saying that bestowing a higher-ranked medal to service members who fought from "behind a desk" is disrespectful to those serving in harm's way.
So far the administration has shown no sign of backing down.

Last month, in one of his final public events before retiring, Secretary Panetta hailed creation of the new medal as a reflection of an evolution in modern warfare and of the growing importance of the drones and cyberwarfare strategies.
"The medal provides distinct, department-wide recognition for the extraordinary achievements that directly impact on combat operations, but that do not involve acts of valor or physical risk that combat entails," Panetta said.

"I've always felt - having seen the great work that they do, day in and day out - that those who performed in an outstanding manner should be recognized," he said. "Unfortunately, medals that they otherwise might be eligible for simply did not recognize that kind of contribution."
A White House official declined to comment on the criticism. Obama, who has significantly increased drone warfare during his administration, on Tuesday awarded two purple hearts to wounded service members at Walter Reed military medical center in Washington.
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The number of anti-government groups in the United States is at an all-time high and has increased 800 percent since President Barack Obama took office

March 6, 2013, 6:08 pm
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The number of anti-government groups in the United States is at an all-time high and has increased 800 percent since President Barack Obama took office, according to a Southern Poverty Law Center report.

The SPLC identified 1,360 so-called patriot groups on the “radical right” in 2012, compared with only 149 in 2008. Much of the growth came in Obama’s first term, but there was a 7 percent jump from 2011 to 2012. The group, in its report on Tuesday, said it expects numbers to spike again in the wake of the Obama administration’s gun control proposals, noting a similar spike after the passage of the assault weapons ban in 1994.

The SPLC wrote a letter to the departments of Justice and Homeland Security asking for the creation of a task force to examine the resources devoted to battling domestic terrorism.

“On October 25, 1994, six months before the Oklahoma City bombing, we wrote Attorney General Janet Reno about the growing threat of domestic terrorism,” SPLC President Richard Cohen wrote in the letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. “Today, we write to express similar concerns. In the last four years, we have seen a tremendous increase in the number of conspiracy-minded, antigovernment groups as well as in the number of domestic terrorist plots. As in the period before the Oklahoma City bombing, we now also are seeing ominous threats from those who believe that the government is poised to take their guns.”
In 2009, conservative lawmakers criticized DHS for a report arguing the election of the first black president could cause a resurgence in right-wing extremism. Napolitano eventually apologized for issuing the report.

The center counts many militia and white black separatist groups in its total, along with secessionist groups in Texas and elsewhere.
There has been a decline in one category of hate group, according to the SPLC. The number of groups that harass immigrants has declined by 90 percent since 2010, with only 38 groups still operating.
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More Marijuana Arrests in US Than Apprehensions for Violence in 2011

March 6, 2013, 6:14 pm
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The most basic instinct of humans is self-preservation and keeping free from personal harm.  So when you have a nation where police arrest more people for marijuana possession than for violent crime, it would appear that protecting citizens from physical harm takes second place to enforcing archaic laws demonizing a weed that induces euphoria and an urge to eat.
After all, alcohol is socially sanctioned as a way of relaxing with friends or alone.  No one gets busted for sipping from a can of beer on the front porch or drinking champagne at a swanky charity fundraiser.
Yet despite the action of 18 states to legalize the medical use of marijuana -- and in Colorado and Washington State to decriminalize it for recreational use – arrests at the local and federal level are proceeding full steam ahead, to the detriment of public safety – given a limited amount of law enforcement resources.
 In 2011, marijuana possession arrests totaled 663,032 — more than arrests for all violent crimes combined. Possession arrests have nearly doubled since 1980, according to an FBI report, while teen marijuana use recently reached a 30-year high.
Americans interested in not getting mugged, beaten, hit by their husbands, etc., should think about the implications of a law enforcement culture that ups its arrest records – and wastes police and court time, not to mention prison costs – by making easy marijuana pinches.  This policy is from the White House down, given that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has spent a good part of the Obama years cracking down on medical marijuana dispensaries.  President Obama and the DOJ are currently sending mixed signals, with Obama playing the good cop while the DOJ plays the bad cop, leaking that it is pursuing how to strategically challenge the Colorado and Washington State recreational use laws.
Lost in the executive branch DOJ position that federal law must prevail is the sheer harm that such a counterproductive active criminal pursuit of marijuana users is at all levels of government law enforcement.

Taxpayers have shouldered the cost of arresting and incarcerating hundreds of thousands of people for the possession of marijuana, often in small quantities for personal use. Some national estimates put the annual cost of marijuana arrests above $10 billion, and low-level arrests for marijuana possession cost New York City alone $75 million in 2010. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed decriminalizing possession of 15 grams or less — even when flashed in public view — last week in his State of the State address.
"Every year, this process needlessly scars thousands of lives and wastes millions of dollars in law enforcement resources, while detracting from the prosecution of serious crime," Cuomo said. "It’s not fair, it’s not right. It must end, and it must end now."
It is a financially wasteful use of public funds to criminally pursue marijuana possession due to a tattered, discredited and dying social prejudice among older Americans.
It is a policy dangerous to our personal well-being, because while cops are booking Americans for a few joints found in a pocket, an armed robber is getting away in an alley somewhere.
It is a tragic farce that is maddening enough to make you reach for a double shot of bourbon, on the rocks.
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4 Reasons to Avoid Precut Produce

March 6, 2013, 11:53 pm
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At the end of a long day, there may be no worse sight than a mountain of vegetables and raw ingredients just waiting for the dinner fairy to turn them into a tasty home-cooked meal. Who hasn’t wished for a magical kitchen assistant to do all the chopping, slicing, dicing, and prep work that makes cooking feel like a chore? Obviously a lot of us have, because today’s supermarket aisles are full of ingredients that have already been cut for our convenience: precut stalks of celery just waiting for a scoop of peanut butter; pre-boiled eggs; bagged salads that require almost no effort at all; pre-diced onions that save us sweat and tears.
According to the United Fresh Produce Association, sales of these convenience foods have skyrocketed in the past two decades, with more and more customers choosing them in order to make food preparation easier and faster. When you’re shopping at the supermarket, they may seem like the best culinary development since the deep fryer, but the next time you’re tempted to grab that pre-bagged spinach or pre-grated Parmesan, think twice about the hidden costs–literal and figurative–that accompany them.


1) They have a bigger carbon footprint.
Much is made these days about food-miles, which refers to the distance food travels from farm to table, and how it affects carbon emissions. Pre-prepared ingredients require significantly larger amounts of energy for packing, processing, and transportation. After harvest, mass-market precut produce is either washed in a chlorine solution or irradiated in order to eradicate microbes and bacteria, and then put into packaging. Once it’s been packaged, the produce requires refrigeration during transportation, during display, and after purchase. Not only do mass-market precut vegetables generate a bigger carbon footprint because of transportation and cleaning, but their packaging alone adds to landfills and contributes to pollution.
Some grocery stores offer their own lines of precut fruits and veggies that are produced in-house. Although these foods don’t need the extended refrigeration or incur the transportation costs of the mass-market varieties, they still require extra packaging, extra handling, cleansing, and extra labor, all of which mean higher costs for the environment than if you did the slicing and dicing yourself.



2) They’re not necessarily cleaner.
We all love the fantasy of opening a bag of spinach and dumping it right into the salad bowl, but back in August 2006, consumers discovered that this particular fantasy was a great way to get E. coli. In August 2007, it became a great way to get salmonella (the most common foodborne pathogen). Over the past few years, dozens of vegetable recalls have been initiated in order to protect consumers from these pathogens as well as others, such as listeria. It’s not spinach itself that’s to blame; although bagged and precut vegetables have ostensibly already been washed and treated, they’re actually more likely to harbor pathogens that can cause foodborne illness, especially if the vegetables are not kept properly refrigerated through every step of the production process.
The problem arises from both handling and surface area; the more a food item is handled and processed, the more likely it is that the item will come into contact with germs. The more food is cut or sliced, the more surface area it has, meaning germs can cling to more places. Although the risk of contracting any foodborne illness is relatively small, pre-grated cheese, precut salad, and pre-chopped onions are all riskier than the whole, unadulterated versions of the same foods. The FDA recommends washing all precut and pre-bagged produce just as you would wash whole foods, so buying them preprepared doesn’t really save as much time as you’d think.

3) They’re (much) more expensive. Precut and preprepared fruits and veggies may save a bit of time, but that convenience comes at a cost. On a recent trip to a Whole Foods store in San Francisco, the prices between preprepared produce items and their whole counterparts was striking:
  • One sixteen-ounce bag of organic spinach was $5.99, compared with one sixteen-ounce bunch of organic spinach for $1.99.
  • Twelve ounces of organic apple slices were $2.99, compared with loose Braeburn apples for $1.99 per pound.
  • Ten ounces of precut celery sticks were $3.99, compared with loose celery stalks for $1.99 per pound.
  • Ten ounces of precut celery sticks were $3.99, compared with loose celery stalks for $1.99 per pound.
  • One and one-quarter pound of precut pineapple chunks were $6.99, compared with one whole three-and-one-half-pound pineapple for $4.99.
The prices of the prepared vegetables range from 50 to 75 percent more; the increase goes toward paying for the factors that increase the products’ carbon footprints–handling, washing, transportation, refrigeration, and packaging. Even when you take into account the weight of cores, stems, seeds, and rinds–parts of the veggie that will probably get tossed away–it still amounts to a restaurant-size markup. Why pay it if you’re still the one doing the cooking and the cleanup?


4) They’re not as healthy.
Many consumers look to precut veggies and fruits as a way to make healthful options as convenient as packaged cookies and potato chips are. But while precut veggies are certainly more wholesome than a candy bar, they’re not as wholesome as their whole counterparts. Vegetable growers label their packages with nutritional data gathered for whole, uncut products, but once a vegetable or piece of fruit has been sliced, the nutrients begin to degrade. Slicing through cell walls halts the movement of nutrients carried by water, such as vitamin C, folate, and beta carotene; the longer the veggies are allowed to go uneaten, the more those nutrients decompose. Precut veggies packaging is specially designed to help prevent some of this decomposition; however the New York Times reported in 2001 that after eight hours, cut veggies lose about 10 percent of their vitamin C and that’s assuming that they’ve been carefully wrapped and refrigerated. Veggies cut and packaged by the supermarket staff may have only been on the shelf for a few hours, but those packaged at the source may have had the time to degrade substantially from their original state.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with the concept of convenience; if it wasn’t for convenience, after all, we’d all be responsible for milking our own cows, kneading our own bread, and butchering our own livestock. But even though the convenience of a precut celery stalk is still preferable to a Snickers bar, the greenest, cheapest, and healthiest option is to take the time to do the slicing and dicing yourself.
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7 Nutrition Bars that Are Worse Than Candy

March 6, 2013, 11:55 pm
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In 1970, Pillsbury filed for a trademark for a "non-frozen balance energy snack in rod form containing nutritionally balanced amounts of carbohydrate, fat and protein." Dubbed Space Food Sticks, the glorified Tootsie Rolls were a boon to parents looking for a healthy-sounding snack for their kids, and kids got to feel like astronauts. Space Food Sticks were considered the first mass-marketed energy-nutrition bars - also known as the first step toward reducing real food to the easy-peasy convenience of a candy bar.

The idea isn't so awful: Condense protein, vitamins and carbohydrates into a compact package to stand in for a missed meal, to refuel during or after exercise, or as a healthy between-meal snack. But all the good is dependent on the components, which actually need to be healthy. Instead, a hodgepodge of dodgy ingredients are compressed into a product that winds up being much closer to a candy bar ... often times worse than a candy bar.

While the boosted protein or fiber content at least means some of the contenders can't be relegated to the heap of "empty calories" (the scarlet letter of the food world), often times the protein boost isn't worth the other schlock that the bar delivers. Aside from exorbitant amounts of sugar, high fructose corn syrup, unhealthy fats, chemical additives, artificial colors and flavors, and questionable preservatives, some of the protein sources may be suspect. Whey or casein protein are okay, but the popularly-used soy proteins are of concern because of their estrogen-mimicking behavior. Also commonly used are boiled animal scraps, which you can find on the label under the euphemisms of gelatin, hydrolyzed collagen or hydrolyzed gelatin. Made from slaughterhouse leftovers like skin, bones and various connective tissues, these inferior sources lack all the essential amino acids required to make them a complete protein, yet they boost the protein grams on a nutrition panel.

A candy bar like this ends up being a healthier option in terms of natural ingredients, sugar content, calories and sometimes even fiber, when compared to some of the popular nutrition bars on the market. Here are some that fail in comparison.

1. Oh Yeah! Original Bar: Peanut Butter & Strawberry
Oh yeah!? Oh no! While it's true that these high-protein bars boast 27 grams of protein, they are a far cry from something you should be eating for health. Along with a surfeit of sugars, artificial colors, chemical preservatives, gelatin, and partially hydrogenated oils, they offer an exuberant 370 calories, with 16 grams of fat, 9 of those being saturated.
Calories: 370
Total fat: 16 g
Saturated fat: 9 g
Sugars: 9 g
Fiber: 4 g
Protein: 27 g

2. PowerBar Fruit Smoothie Energy Bar: Berry Blast Berries, and a blast of them no less - oh, the marketing magic of superfood buzzwords. Aside from the glaring lack of fiber, the PowerBar Fruit Smoothie bar has more calories and more than double the sugar of our model candy bar. The first ingredient is evaporated cane juice syrup, followed elsewhere on the list by sugar, fruit juice concentrate, dextrose, and fructose (read: sugar, sugar, sugar and sugar). The protein source is soy. Not to mention that there isn't a single berry listed in the ingredients. How does that qualify as a blast?
Calories: 220
Sugars: 27 g
Fiber: less than 1 g
Protein: 6 g

3. Quaker Oatmeal to Go Apples & Cinnamon Although this breakfast in a square actually has oats as the first ingredient (yay!), the second ingredient is high-fructose corn syrup. (Boo!) Other hiss-worthy components include a number of sugars in their various guises, two types of partially hydrogenated oils including margarine, and artificial colors and chemical preservatives. It has only one more gram of protein than the candy bar, yet has almost twice as much sugar and more calories.
Calories: 220
Sugars: 22 g
Fiber: 5 g
Protein: 4 g

4. Genisoy Chunky Peanut Butter Fudge Protein Bar This isn't the most offensive bar of the bunch, but just be warned: More calories than the candy bar, more sugar, and half the fiber.
Calories: 220
Sugars: 22 g
Fiber: 2 g
Protein: 10 g



5. Met-Rx Big 100 Colossal Peanut Butter Pretzel Given the whopping 28 grams of sugar, it's not surprising that the second, third, and fourth ingredients of this monster bar are corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, and sugar. If you're going to eat this Big Colossal whopper as a meal, that's one thing, but as a snack, the 410 calories and 28 grams of sugar are going to make you one step closer to big and colossal.
Calories: 410
Sugars: 28 g
Fiber: 3 g
Protein: 30 g

6. Muscle Milk Vanilla Toffee Crunch Bar It's probably no surprise that a bar that comes in "vanilla toffee crunch" flavor isn't going to win many health food awards, but coming from a nutritional supplement company, one might think that there was a bit of merit involved. The first ingredient is evaporated cane juice (hello, sugar); nine other forms of sugar show up as well, along with two types of hydrogenated oils. And yes, it has more protein than a candy bar. That said, the protein comes from hydrolyzed gelatin.
Calories: 290
Sugars: 17 g
Fiber: 4 g
Protein: 23 g

7. Seitenbacher Banana Cranberry Bar Seitenbacher is generally a good choice for a number of reasons: Their products are gluten-free and vegetarian; they use non-GMO soy; and the ingredient lists are usually simple and natural. But the banana cranberry option surprises with one glaring nutritional value: 32 grams of sugar. That translates to about 8 teaspoons of sugar, a lot of sweet stuff yet with only half the fiber and one-third the protein of the chocolate bar.
Calories: 160
Sugars: 32 g
Fiber: 3 g
Protein: 1 g
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Why a Stick of Chewing Gum is More Harmful To Your Health Than Anything You Eat

March 6, 2013, 11:58 pm
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People do not typically swallow gum, so they pay very little attention to the ingredients.  The assumption is that if it is not swallowed, then it is not a concern.  However, the ingredients in gum travel into the bloodstream faster and in higher concentrations than food ingredients, because they absorb straight through the walls of the mouth, and they do not undergo the normal filtration process of digestion.

Gum is typically the most toxic product in supermarkets that is intended for consumption, and it is likely to kill any pet that eats it.  Commercial gum products contain roughly the same list of toxic ingredients, with differing labeling, which is virtually always designed to be deceptive.

Common Ingredients of Gum
After looking at several different brands of chewing gum, we found that these were the most common ingredients:
• Sorbitol
• Gum Base
• Maltitol
• Mannitol
• Xylitol
• Artificial and 'Natural' Flavoring
• Acacia
• Acesulfame Potassium
• Aspartame
• BHT
• Calcium Casein Peptone-calcium Phosphate
• Candelilla Wax
• Sodium Stearate
• Titanium Dioxide (so cancerous that external skin contact is enough)
All of these ingredients absorb directly into the bloodstream through the walls of the mouth.  Some of these ingredients are explained in-depth, because it is prudent to correct myths that chewing gum is harmless and even good for you (ie. "it strengthens the teeth").

The "Sugar Free" Sugar Alcohols
Sorbitol, Maltitol, and Mannitol are sugar alcohols.  These are usually made from sugar, and they frequently increase the blood sugar just as much as eating sugar.  However, manufacturers make deceptive "sugar-free" claims about sugar alcohols, since these ingredients are not pure sugar anymore.  While such sugar derivatives are technically "sugar free" when the manipulative word games are employed, they nonetheless remain dangerous for diabetics, who are the very audience that these gums are marketed to.  Let's not forget that the sugar alcohol containing gums are also marketed to improve our dental health, either; since they are so "sugar free", after all.  The sugar alcohols are even more chemically bastardized than "white" sugar is (and thus more toxic), so we have reason to believe that these forms of sugar will stimulate even more weight gain and inflammation than regular sugar.  All of the evidence points in that direction.  Furthermore, these chemically bastardized sugar alcohols are documented to cause abdominal pains and diarrhea, whilst aggravating various health conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome; so the immune system takes a huge hit from them.  This immune suppression will in turn cause greater yeast development in the body, which may actually lead to cavities.
It is not surprising that these gums are so well-loved by the American Dental Association.  It's like the thing with fluoride supposedly "stopping cavities" instead of actually causing more, along with various other dental problems.

Gum Base
Instead of telling customers what they are really eating, 'gum base' is used to generalize a list of ingredients that is never published.  As the name implies, it is the foundation agent of chewing gum.  We have tried exhaustively to find exactly what 'gum base' is made from.  Repeatedly, we found the following babble, which is obviously meant to derail serious research:
"Gum base is produced through a blend of raw materials which can be categorized in five classes:
  1. Elastomers, act as the key ingredient and provide elasticy
  2. Resins act as binders and softeners
  3. Plasticizers render the elastomer soft to ensure thorough blending of the gum base
  4. Fillers contribute to the overall texture
  5. Antioxidants prevent oxidation of the gum base and flavors during shelf life"
Since this was repeated identically at all websites that we looked at, we can only assume that all of these companies are actually owned by the same people, or at least they are working together as a cartel to cover-up an honest disclosure of what is in their gums.  We found out that the gum base is usually a commercial trade secret.   None of the websites told us the full ingredients.  For instance, exactly what plasticizer is used?  Are people chewing on super-toxic PVC?  The plasticizing agents could contain dioxins, and quite frankly, they probably really do.

After much more research, we found one Chinese company who told us about their ingredients.  Wuxi Yueda Gum Base Manufacture Co, Ltd said:
"It is made of several food grade raw materials, which are rubber (food grade), glycerol ester of rosin, paraffin waxes, polyvinyl acetates, talc powder and calcium carbonate."

Glycerol ester of rosin is often made from the stumps of pine trees.  It is used industrially to create fast-drying varnishes.  The Internet is riddled with stories of people who had severe allergic reactions to it, usually causing a swollen throat that led to difficulty breathing.  Glycerol ester of rosin is now being added to soft drinks, though federal limits ensure that its quantity remains under 100 p.p.m..  This safety limitation does not apply to chewing gum.
Talc has been linked to lung cancer, ovarian cancer, and fibrotic pneumoconiosis with just transdermal exposure.  It is very rarely put into products that are to be consumed.  In fact, the only other consumable products that we have seen containing talc are diet aids (most are extremely toxic).  Talcum powder was once used on small children, but it has now been replaced with cornstarch, due to safety concerns.  It's too dangerous to touch the skin, but absorbing it straight into the bloodstream is apparently acceptable.

Polyvinyl acetate is not quite P.V.C..  It's P.V.A..  P.V.A. is frequently referred to as 'Carpenter's glue' or simply 'white glue'.  Remember that this is not being used as an industrial product, but as something that children are frequently given to chew on ('gum base' is in bubble gum too).  This goes quite well with the paraffin wax, which is derived from refined petroleum.

Aspartame and Acesulfame Potassium (otherwise written as Acesulfame K)
Aspartame is one of the most controversial additives of all time, and sits alongside M.S.G. and saccharin in terms of both consumer trust and safety.  Its presence in foods has nothing to do with safety, but everything to do with politics and money.
Aspartame has been linked to just about every health condition known, from seizures to brain tumors.  Some epileptic patients have recovered from their condition simply by eliminating of this toxin from their diets.  It is found in diet foods, diet drinks and sugar-free products as an alternative to sugar.  Aspartame is a cure that remains worse than the disease.  Aspartame is an excitotoxin, which means that it over-excites the neurons in the brain, until they burn out, causing lowered intelligence and a host of neurological problems.

Dr. Russell Blaylock is the leading expert on the dangers of aspartame.  He helped produce the documentary, "Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World" which catalogs the health problems caused by Aspartame.  Aspartame can cause diabetes, fibromyalgia, lowered I.Q., obesity, multiple sclerosis, asthma, insomnia, muscle spasms, and a total of 92 known symptoms.
Acesulfame Potassium has similar properties to aspartame, and is believed to be a cancer risk.  The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has petitioned the F.D.A. for a stay of approval, due to the lack of testing done on this substance.  Studies on animals have shown a correlation between acesulfame potassium and various tumors.

Calcium Casein Peptone-Calcium Phosphate
While we would love to be able to provide lots of information on this ingredient, we can't.  We simply don't know.  It's only appearance is in Trident gum (the worst brand), and thus we were unable to find studies or any other information about it.  It could be a whitening agent.  It's important to note that casein is a milk-extractive that was linked with the Chinese baby formula poisonings.  Trust this ingredient at your own risk, but we would never encourage something when its research is hidden from the public.

BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene)
B.H.T. is a preservative which has been linked to cancer, and is banned in the United Kingdom and Japan.  It is unbelievably sold as a "dietary supplement", and some people believe that it has anti-viral effects.  So does gasoline and rat poison for that matter.  We do not recommend it, because of the safety implications.  It causes kidney and liver damage.  Benjamin Feingold (creator of the 'Feingold diet') linked it to hyperactivity in children in the 1970's, as a large component of A.D.H.D..
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Hungry? - But you Just Ate!

March 7, 2013, 12:00 am
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Hunger is the stomach’s way of telling the brain that we need food. But didn’t you just eat your meal? Then why are you craving for more food and how do you convince your stomach that you are really full?

Food is one of the basic necessities of life. The body requires its share of carbohydrates – the main source of energy, without which it would feel lethargic; fats – to help store energy for future use; and proteins – which are the building blocks and contain the important amino acids.


It takes some time after eating for the stomach to register the feeling of fullness – this is why we are not satisfied after a proper meal. The best thing would be to wait for 10 – 15 minutes or drink some water as this may be all you require.

At times, lack of sleep or not resting enough can cause confusion with appetite hormones. When the body is tired – levels of leptin – the hormone produced by fat cells that control our appetite decrease and at the same time a hormone in the stomach – gherlin – that stimulates appetite increases; so now there are two hormones working against you. When you lack sleep, it would be best to eat good nourishing and energizing food – fruits, complex carbs and proteins would be ideal.

When on medication for allergies, joint pains and colds, the medications may bring on hunger pangs. You need to ignore the pangs if you have eaten well by chewing some gum or sipping some black tea.

The symptoms of thirst and dehydration closely resemble those of hunger. Drink a glass of cool water or some herbal tea, 10 minutes later you will feel much better.

Many a time we eat out of habit rather than hunger. Try to analyze what it is you feel and either eat a small meal or delay the meal by an hour.

After a workout, you may to feel ravenous, but this is again an ingrained habit. You may feel better with some juice or water. At times, the hunger pangs are strong and make you feel faint – try to satisfy them with some complex carbs like brown rice, whole grains or some roast chicken or lean meat.

Eating too fast can also make you feel hungry soon after a meal. Chew your food well and eat slowly, putting your fork down in-between bites. Balance your meal to include carbs, fat and protein. Chew a mint to stave off hunger pangs.

Some women face the problem of working with other women who are snacking all the time on fries and burgers. This has a copy-cat effect and your stomach starts rumbling. You can control the rumblings by chewing on carrot sticks or by leaving the room.

Our sense organs lead and give signals to the stomach; when we see food in a TV advertisement or some cooking show, we crave food -change channels.

Stress is when people turn to food which is high in fat, salty or sugary. They are comfort foods and can make you feel good. The body’s chemical reaction to stress can cause hunger as increased levels of stress hormones – cortisol and insulin can trigger appetite. It is not only emotion.

When you drink too much of soda or sugary beverages like iced tea which are high in fructose – the brain gets tricked and craves for food.

At times, you don’t cook and eat out of cans - Canned food has a chemical called bisphenol A or BPA; this can also cause hunger pangs after a meal.

Breakfast should be healthy and nourishing as the wrong food can leave you feeling hungry all day. A 500-calorie breakfast gives fewer rises to blood sugar and insulin; as a result food cravings are reduced.

Boredom can make you turn to food automatically; when you have nothing to do you tend to reach for the cookie or candy jar. When you are fully occupied, you forget even your meals.
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Man left in solitary confinement for 2 years gets $15.5 million settlement

March 7, 2013, 6:26 am
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A man who spent 22 long months in solitary confinement in a New Mexico jail, neglected to the point where he was forced to pull out his own tooth because he said he wasn't allowed to see a dentist, will receive $15.5 million for the ordeal.

The settlement with Dona Ana County, N.M., falls short of the $22 million that Stephen Slevin, 59, and his attorney had asked for, but is still one of the largest prisoner civil rights payouts in U.S. history.
"His mental health has been severely compromised from the time he was in that facility. That continues to be the same. No amount of money will bring back what they took away from him," Matt Coyte, Slevin's Albuquerque-based attorney, said on Wednesday. "But it’s nice to be able to get him some money so he can improve where he is in life and move on."



Slevin's story of inhumane treatment in the Dona Ana County Jail, where he was incarcerated from 2005 to 2007 — which he said included his toenails growing so long that they curled around his foot, and fungus festering on his skin because he was deprived of showers — first received publicity last January, when he was awarded the $22 million.

Dona Ana County had been appealing the verdict ever since, refusing to pay Slevin.
But the legal battle ended Tuesday with the $15.5 million settlement, a number decided on in court mediation, according to Jess Williams, Dona Ana County's public information director.
An initial payment of $6 million is expected to be wired to Slevin by the end of this week; he will receive the rest in installments in the following days.
For Slevin — who has lung cancer and has beaten doctors' odds for how long he would survive — the case was not about how much money he could make, his attorney said, but about getting recognition of how poorly he was treated and the scars he still has.
"He's had lots of difficulties over the years. I don't think he will stop having difficulties," Coyte said. "The courage he had in the trial was magnificent."


Slevin's mistreatment by Dona Ana County started the moment he was arrested back in August of 2005, his attorney told NBC News.
"He was driving through New Mexico and arrested for a DWI, and he allegedly was in a stolen vehicle. Well, it was a car he had borrowed from a friend; a friend had given him a car to drive across the country," Coyte said in an interview last January.
Slevin was depressed at the time, Coyte explained, and wanted to get out of New Mexico. Instead, he found himself in jail.
"When he gets put in the jail, they think he's suicidal, and they put him in a padded cell for three days, but never give him any treatment."

Nor did they give him a trial, Coyte said. Slevin said he never saw a judge during his time in confinement.
After three days in the padded cell, jail guards transferred Slevin into solitary confinement with no explanation. 

"Their policy is to then just put them in solitary" if they appear to have mental health issues, Coyte told NBC News. 
While in solitary confinement, a prisoner is entitled to one hour per day out of the cell, but often times, Slevin wasn't even granted that, Coyte said. 
"Your insanity builds. Some people holler or throw feces out their cell doors," he said. "Others rock back and forth under a blanket for a year or more, which is what my client did."
By the time Slevin got out of jail, his hair was shaggy and overgrown, his beard long, and his face pale and sunken, a drastic contrast from the clean-shaven booking photo taken of him when he was arrested two years prior.

"Without that picture, we couldn't have gotten where we were," Coyte said of the lawsuit.
Coyte would not reveal where Slevin is living now for privacy reasons, only saying that he was not in New Mexico. He said he receives support from family and is "doing well" and "feels optimistic" about his treatment for cancer, which is unrelated to his time in jail and was not a factor in his trial.
Williams, the Dona Ana County public information officer, said no jail personnel have been fired over Slevin's treatment. However, he said, the jail has been working to improve the care it provides for mentally ill inmates.
"We now have dedicated wings of the building, one for males, one for females, that are totally dedicated for closely supervised mental health provisions and care," he said. "We've greatly expanded our medical area and we have contracted out at great expense for both medical and mental health services within the facility."


The budget at Dona Ana County Jail for medical care for inmates has nearly doubled since 2005, the year that Slevin was arrested, Williams said.
In a statement released by the Dona Ana County Commission, the jail also outlined plans for a crisis triage center "that will help stabilize mentally-ill persons who have committed no crimes but who represent a danger to themselves or others in the eyes of law-enforcement professionals."
But for Coyte, Slevin's attorney, there's still one more change that needs to be made: Dona Ana County Jail's warden.
"If you were in the trial and heard what the person who ran the facility said, you would be appalled," Coyte said. "I get lots of people [inmates] calling from that jail asking for help. Am I pleased that they've spent more money in the jail? Absolutely. I'm pleased that Mr. Slevin's case has made a difference in the jail. But the same people are running it, and it's an attitude of how you run something."
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Chinese physicists measure speed of Einstein’s ‘spooky action at a distance’: At least 10,000 times faster than light

March 7, 2013, 6:31 am
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A team of Chinese physicists have clocked the speed of spooky action at a distance — the seemingly instantaneous interaction between entangled quantum particles — at more than four orders of magnitude faster than light. Their equipment and methodology doesn’t allow for an exact speed, but four orders of magnitude puts the figure at around 3 trillion meters per second.
Spooky action at a distance was a term coined by Einstein to describe how entangled quantum particles seem to interact with each other instantaneously, over any distance, breaking the speed of light and thus relativity. As of our current understanding of quantum mechanics, though, it is impossible to send data using quantum entanglement, preserving the theory of relativity. A lot of work is being done in this area, though, and some physicists believe that faster-than-light communication might be possible with some clever manipulation of entangled particles.
Now, thanks to these Chinese physicists — the same ones who broke the quantum teleportation distance record last year — we know that spooky action at a distance has a lower bound of four orders of magnitude faster than light, or around 3 trillion meters per second. We say “at least,” because the physicists do not rule out that spooky action is actually instantaneous — but their testing equipment and methodology simply doesn’t allow them to get any more accurate.
Measuring spooky action at a distance: The Chinese experimental setup
To get this figure, the physicists entangled pairs of photons at a base station, and then transmitted half of each pair to two receiving sites. The receiving sites were 15.3 kilometers (9.5mi) apart, and aligned east-west so as to minimize the interference from the Earth’s rotation (which is significant, when measuring speed on this scale). One half of the pair was then observed, and the time for the other half to assume the same state is measured. This process was repeated continuously for 12 hours to generate enough data to accurately divine the speed of spooky action.
According to the physicists, other research groups have tried to measure the speed of spooky action before, but they’ve all had locality loopholes — flaws in the methodology that undermine the quantum nonlocality that the experiment requires. This time, the physicists claim, all the loopholes have been closed, and that their measurement of at least 3 trillion meters per second is accurate.
Where do we go from here? Good question. In recent months we’ve seen a group of international scientists teleport entangled photons over 143km (89mi), the first everteleportation between macroscopic objects, and the first fiber optic network that can carry conventional data and quantum data. We’re now at the point where a quantum internet — either using conventional fiber or satellites — is starting to become feasible. If it turns out that we actually can communicate data via quantum entanglement, we now know that it’ll be much faster than the speed of light.
At the very least, this is one of the first observations of the subluminal universe — a significant event for all scientists everywhere.
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Six Boston cops fired after testing positive for cocaine have been ordered reinstated — with back pay

March 7, 2013, 6:14 pm
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Six Boston cops fired after testing positive for cocaine have been ordered reinstated — with back pay — after a state board struck down hair tests as 
unreliable in a bombshell ruling that could have a far-reaching impact on how city workers are drug-tested.
In a stunning, 134-page ruling, the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission this week ordered the six cops back on the job, finding that “the present state of hair testing for drugs of abuse ... does not meet the standard of reliability necessary to be routinely used” to fire someone.
“Hair testing for drugs of abuse has not achieved general acceptance within the scientific or law enforcement communities,” the board wrote. “A reported positive test result is not necessarily conclusive of ingestion and ... may or may not justify termination.”
The six ex-cops — Richard Beckers, Ronnie Jones, Jacqueline McGowan, Shawn Harris, Walter Washington and George Downing — failed drug tests when cocaine showed up in their hair samples in the early to mid-2000s, records state. They all appealed and the board ruled that all should be reinstated with back pay to October 2010, which is when Civil Service took on the case.
For McGowan, the positive test was her second — and she testified before the commission that she was formerly a “regular” cocaine user, the ruling states. Attempts to reach all the officers last night were unsuccessful.
Their union-paid attorney, Alan Shapiro, called the ruling “enormously gratifying.”
“Finally, somebody that has looked at all the science of this has said, ‘No, you can’t do that,’ ” Shapiro said last night. “The science is not the holy grail that it was held out to be.”
Dot Joyce, spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas M. Menino, said the city is “weighing its options for appeal.”
“This decision could have impacts across the city,” she said.
Four other former cops who appealed over their failed drug tests — Preston Thompson, Oscar Bridgeman, Rudy Guity and William Bridgeforth — had their firings upheld, according to the commission.
Some of them made excuses for their failed tests, including Bridgeforth, who told the commission he may have had false positive tests because he brushed white powder off the seat of his cruiser, which he “assumed was confectionery powder from doughnuts.” He also said he lived in a townhouse that shared a heating vent with neighbors who were crack smokers, records state.
Bridgeman, meanwhile, told commissioners he believed his positive test was because he had a “habit of putting drugs ... from suspects in his pocket where he also kept cookies to eat.”
Guity, who once served on the drug unit, blamed his positive tests on lidocaine he was prescribed after surgery. The state unemployment board found the claim “credible” and awarded him benefits. Several of the others also have been granted unemployment pay, records show.
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Study shows wealth gap between whites and African-Americans continues to widen

March 7, 2013, 6:20 pm
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Years after the civil rights movement, racial inequality continues to deepen.
The wealth gap between white and African-American families has nearly tripled over 25 years, according to a study released by the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University.
Although African-American family income has increased over time, white families have accumulated much more wealth. By tracking families, the study found that the gap between white and African-American family wealth increased from $85,070 in 1984 to $236,500 in 2009.
Many Americans still believe that racial inequality is related to individual behavior, choices, character, marriage and child bearing, says Thomas Shapiro, IASP director. But homeownership has been the biggest cause of racial wealth disparity, followed by income, the study found. In the past 25 years, education has failed to be the great equalizer that many expected. 
Owning a home has largely benefited white families because they're more able to have family financial assistance for down payments, have easier access to credit and buy homes years earlier than African-American families. As a result, their home equity has increased, providing more wealth and financial security.
In contrast, the study found, African Americans are more recent homeowners who tended to have high-risk mortgages and to be more vulnerable to home foreclosure.
The nation has long-standing roots in racial discrimination in hiring, training and promotion, and in the past 25 years, that has made it harder for African Americans to build income and have a financial cushion, fueling racial inequality, the study says.
Although more African Americans are going to college, fewer finish with a degree than white students. The skyrocketing cost of education is contributing to the racial gap in college completion, Shapiro says. Among graduates, more blacks than whites are weighed down by student debt.
The Great Recession has worsened the widening wealth gap. The bursting of the housing bubble followed by the economic crisis and unemployment caused African Americans to fall further behind, says Rakesh Kochhar, a researcher at the Pew Research Center. They were more likely to be unemployed and had to draw down on existing savings to make ends meet.
In recent years, black Americans have been less likely than whites to have a workplace retirement plan, according to new research by University of California, Berkeley. They rely more heavily on Social Security than whites, and poverty rates among black seniors was 19.4%, compared with 9.4% for the general senior population between 2008 and 2010, says the UC Berkeley study.
It will be hard to close the racial wealth gap without broad changes, IASP says. Among other things, it suggests that policymakers and advocates come together to develop more affordable and high-quality education and diverse neighborhoods -- eliminating the persistence of residential segregation.
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