I’m not sure if you guys have read this yet, but I saw it on the Washington Post today. As if it weren’t hard enough to quit smoking, tobacco companies are trying to keep new (mostly) young and black smokers smoking.

How? By increasing the amount of nicotine in cigarettes by 10-30% since 1998. There should be laws against this sort of thing. Racism, exploitation, and addiction are grounds for some serious law suits.

The nicotine in Marlboro products, preferred by two-thirds of high school smokers, increased 12 percent. Kool lights increased 30 percent. Two-thirds of African American smokers use menthol brands.

Can you imagine if other drug companies started increasing dosages by 25%? Beer, cholesterol medicine, or Viagra! I think lots of randy old men would be suing with their 45+ hour erections, don’t you?

Turkey beat Lithuania today in the FIBA World Basketball Championships in Japan (there was a 4.8 earthquake during the game). They are playing for 5th-6th place – hey not bad ok for a team that wasn’t suppose to qualify and barely got in the damn tournament in the first place.
The final result was 95-84 in overtime. Now they face either France (who sucks this year) or Germany (damn good). Hopefully it’s France, let’s see them try to headbutt a Turkish player 🙂

USA plays Greece tomorrow…go USA!

For you teachers and students, I think I may have already posted this on the forum, but it might be worth your while to check out books.google.com. It is a collection of books that you can search, and many even get the full download.

If you’ve got any of those high school or college books you don’t really need to buy, but gotta skim, this might be the tool for you.

Save your parents a few bucks if you can and search for that perfect quote to cap off your 15 pages of BS for English 101.

L’avant Poste, always looking for ways to hack school and fight the educating efforts of teachers everywhere.

Yes, the hair is coming off. I was going to do it yesterday evening, however I have a major dilema. I have no idea how to get the back where my skull meets the rest of my head. It kinda grows in an unusual pattern, and I think it might be a bit tricky. I will do it on Friday, no fail.

It must happen – I will abort and go bald in the event of a disaster. Expect before, during, and after pictures this weekend.

See how I whore myself in the interest of L’avant Poste? 🙂

I read this off of Bruce Scheiner’s blog today and I thought it was very interesting for those of you whole like legal, security, and pirate matters. It’s a little talk about how to classify terrorists, so we get rid of much of the ambiguity that exists in the US concerning their legal status, and how by classifying terrorists as pirates, other not-so-friendly states would be pressured to give them up.

That goes for you too Bert!

Read on, hope you find this interesting – and of course, thoughts are always welcome.

First, the crime of terrorism would be defined and proscribed internationally, and terrorists would be properly understood as enemies of all states. This legal status carries significant advantages, chief among them the possibility of universal jurisdiction. Terrorists, as hostis humani generis, could be captured wherever they were found, by anyone who found them. Pirates are currently the only form of criminals subject to this special jurisdiction.

Second, this definition would deter states from harboring terrorists on the grounds that they are “freedom fighters” by providing an objective distinction in law between legitimate insurgency and outright terrorism.

Third, and perhaps most important, nations that now balk at assisting the United States in the war on terror might have fewer reservations if terrorism were defined as an international crime that could be prosecuted before the International Criminal Court.

Full story here.

Most new cars in the United States (over 70-90%) come equiped with Event Data Recorders (EDRs).

EDRs record various data from model to model, but most record the speed, brake pressure, direction or movement, among other things, several seconds before a car is involved in an accident. Data from EDRs has already been used in court cases changing verdicts both in favor and against car drivers.

Does your car have an EDR? See below, but since car maufacturers aren’t required to let you know if you have one, there is no way to tell for sure. Check your owners manual. Toyota and some other companies disclose the information voluntarily to their customers.

10 states, beginning with California in 2004, are passing laws obliging automakers to tell buyers if their vehicles have recorders; the laws also restrict the downloading of data without car owners’ consent. Eleven other states are considering similar legislation.

Time.com?

Personally, I think EDRs are a good idea and will cut back on insurance fraud and other cases where you get hit and you get the drop. Planes have them, and cars crash all the time, don’t you think this data is valuable??

Cars with EDR

This isn’t a comprehensive list FYI – because on doesn’t exist 😉

So, does your car have an EDR? I plan to call Honda, just to find out about mine.