Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/166718342?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Monday, November 28, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Britain Steps Up its War on Legal Highs (Time.com)
Strolling through Camden Market, the modern-day Mecca for London's indie scenesters, a suspicious mix of darting eyes and exotic smells gives you the impression that the sea of shops and stalls offer something slightly more sinister than your standard Big Ben replicas. Led down to the dingy basement of one of these shops, you're confronted with a stunning stash of drugs ? cannabis clones such as Amsterdam's Finest, party pills with names like Benzo Fury, and more mushrooms than you can shake a sweaty glo-stick at. The drugs are designed to mimic the effects of Schedule I and II substances like cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines ? but every single one of them is legal.
According to the statistics in an October report by the British government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), as many as four in 10 youngsters have tried these legal highs which, along with now-banned mephedrone ? a party drug similar to ecstasy and speed ? are thought to have contributed to up to 98 deaths in the U.K. since 2009. Dealers working out of high-street "head shops" and through websites have taken advantage of a legal loophole allowing them to sell the drugs as long as they're marked "Not for human consumption." Web sales, in particular, are booming. Figures released on Nov. 15 by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction show the number of sites selling legal highs to buyers in the European Union doubled in the first six months of 2011 ?spiking from 314 in January to 631 by July. Which could be why the British government has decided it's time to take action. Claiming that the U.K. is "leading the way in cracking down on legal highs," Home Office minister Lord Henley announced on Nov. 15 a raft of new measures aimed at slowing the flow of designer drugs into the country. The powers enable the government to place a 12-month ban on any substance deemed potentially harmful while drug advisors investigate whether the ban should be permanent. And the government has pledged a tightening of U.K. border control, with an import ban on two common ingredients found in legal highs ? Diphenylprolinol and diphenylmethyl-pyrrolidine ? making it possible for customs officers to seize and destroy shipments before they leave port. (See pictures of the U.K. heroin underground. Advisory: Some of the photos in this gallery contain graphic content.)
The hope is that this tougher stance will end the current game of chemical cat-and-mouse, in which suppliers circumvent U.K. law by subtly changing the make-up of legal highs each time the government bans them. But hardline backbenchers say the laws don't go far enough, while a number of high-profile figures, including a former government minister and the ex-head of security service MI5, have called for a more liberal approach which would see the drug trade decriminalized and taken out of "the hands of criminals."
And, as is often the case, those whom the new laws are intended to protect are the people least in favor of them. David, 35, spends his days working in London's financial sector and his nights partying on a high-octane fuel of legal highs. His drug of choice is the ecstasy-like Benzo Fury, and his "legendary" capacity for consuming it has earned him the nickname Benzo Dave. "The way I see it, Benzo Fury is just a safer and cheaper alternative to alcohol; legality doesn't really bother me," he says. "The recession has hit everyone hard, so legal highs are seen as a cheaper way of getting a buzz. It only becomes dangerous when people take too much, but you could say that about any drug ? even Paracetamol." (See if Britain can save its wayward youth.)
But experts says that, unlike with most other drugs, the real danger posed by legal highs is the fact that no one knows what constitutes a safe dose. The blink-and-you'll-miss-it rate at which new designer drugs are being produced creates a vacuum of reliable information, leaving users at the mercy of advice from internet chatrooms.
One man who sees the outcome of these gambles every day is Dr. Owen Bowden-Jones, who recently launched the U.K.'s first clinic dedicated to club-drug addicts. Bowden-Jones thinks the unknown qualities of legal highs not only leads to an under-representation when it comes to statistics, but also means users in trouble have nowhere to turn. "These drugs are so new that not even doctors know about them; people suffering from addiction are often left in limbo," he says. Describing the explosion in the number of people taking up legal highs as "unprecedented" compared to those turning to traditional drugs, Bowden-Jones says he has received calls from users across Europe seeking help. Visitors to his clinic tell tales of chronic addiction, causing side effects that include incontinence, insomnia and paranoia. "Many of our patients are affluent professionals in their mid to late 20s who find their addiction has grown from what started out as a once-a-month dabble on a night out."
The rise in the number of addicts mirrors the rise in the number of drugs they can get hold of ? in its October report, the ACMD said that a record 41 new substances were produced in China and the Far East before being sold in the U.K., while similar figures are expected for 2011. Many in the business of stemming the tide, including the government's chief drug advisors, are looking to harsher U.S.-style anti-drug laws as a possible answer. But even with tougher laws and a federal anti-drug budget of $50 billion, the U.S. is still playing catch-up in the war against legal highs. In October, the Drug Enforcement Administration was forced to bring in an emergency one-year ban on so-called bath salts ? designer drugs that come in powdered form ? when they were linked to a number of violent crimes, including the attempted murder of a sheriff's deputy in Montana by a teen wielding an AK-47. (See pictures of the great American pot smoke-out.)
Mindful of the effect these kinds of tragic headlines can have on public opinion, Britain's leaders believe tough tactics are the only way quell the legal-highs epidemic. Time will tell if this form of prohibition can be more successful than its predecessors.
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Saturday, November 26, 2011
CO2 may not warm the planet as much as thought
The climate may be less sensitive to carbon dioxide than we thought ? and temperature rises this century could be smaller than expected. That's the surprise result of a new analysis of the last ice age. However, the finding comes from considering just one climate model, and unless it can be replicated using other models, researchers are dubious that it is genuine.
As more greenhouse gases enter the atmosphere, more heat is trapped and temperatures go up ? but by how much? The best estimates say that if the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere doubles, temperatures will rise by 3 ?C. This is the "climate sensitivity".
But the 3 ?C figure is only an estimate. In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said the climate sensitivity could be anywhere between 2 and 4.5 ?C. That means the temperature rise from a given release of carbon dioxide is still uncertain.
To pin down the sensitivity, Andreas Schmittner of Oregon State University, Corvallis, and colleagues took a close look at the Last Glacial Maximum around 20,000 years ago, when the last ice age was at its height.
Icy cold
They used previously published data to put together a detailed global map of surface temperatures. This showed that the planet was, on average, 2.2 ?C cooler than today. We already know from ice cores that greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere at the time were much lower than they are now.
Schmittner plugged the atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations that existed during the Last Glacial Maximum into a climate model and tried to recreate the global temperature patterns. He found that he had to assume a relatively small climate sensitivity of 2.4 ?C if the model was to give the best fit.
If climate sensitivity really is so low, global warming this century will be at the lower end of the IPCC's estimates. Assuming we keep burning fossil fuels heavily, the IPCC estimates that temperatures will rise about 4 ?C by 2100, compared with 1980 to 1999. Schmittner's study suggests the warming would be closer to their minimum estimate for the "heavy burning" scenario, which is 2.4 ?C.
Sensitive models
Past climates can help us work out the true climate sensitivity, says Gavin Schmidt of the NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies in New York City. But he says the results of Schmittner's study aren't strong enough to change his mind about the climate sensitivity. "I don't expect this to impact consensus estimates," he says.
In particular, the model that Schmittner used in his analysis underestimates the cooling in Antarctica and the mid-latitudes. "The model estimate of the cooling during the Last Glacial Maximum is a clear underestimate," Schmidt says. "A different model would give a cooler Last Glacial Maximum, and thus a larger sensitivity."
Schmittner agrees it is too early to draw firm conclusions. Individual climate models all have their own quirks, so he wants to try the experiment with several models to find out if others repeat the result.
Even if the climate sensitivity really is as low as 2.4 ?C, Schmittner says that doesn't mean we are safe from climate change. The Last Glacial Maximum was only 2.2 ?C cooler than today, yet there were huge ice sheets, plant life was different, and sea levels were 120 metres lower.
"Very small changes in temperature cause huge changes in certain regions," Schmittner says. So even if we get a smaller temperature rise than we expected, the knock-on effects would still be severe.
Journal reference: Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.1203513
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Friday, November 25, 2011
Fujifilm's X-S1 Shoots Far-Off Places [Cameras]
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/RRgGyzv0qM8/fujifilms-x+s1-shoots-far+off-places
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What Demi Lovato Is Most Thankful for in 2011 (omg!)
Demi Lovato is counting her blessings this holiday season.
"As many of you know, last year at this time, I was in treatment. I spent Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve away from my home and family which is why I am so excited to be with them this year," the 19-year-old singer writes in her monthly Seventeen column. "Thinking about how far I have come in a year makes me so thankful."
PHOTOS: Demi through the years
In late 2010, Lovato checked into a rehab facility to treat depression and bulimia. While there, the former Disney Channel star also discovered she suffers from Bipolar II disorder.
"I could not have done this without God and the amazing support from my family," Lovato says. "They have stuck by me through everything and love me just the way that I am. That is a wonderful feeling to know that people accept the real you."
VIDEO: Watch Demi's triumphant return to the stage
Despite her hardships, the teen singer says she's "thankful for my life path, including the highs and the lows, because it has caused my true self to shine through."
"Going to treatment was a gift and I believe it saved my life. I learned how to be strong and healthy even through struggles," Lovato says. "It also helped me open up about my issues and share them with others. Knowing that my family, friends and fans accept me for who I am is the greatest feeling ever!"
PHOTOS: Famous Disney stars
Lovato -- who is currently on tour to promote her third album, Unbreakable -- says the experience taught her to stop taking "things for granted, like my family, friends, fans and career. Each day is special to me and I take each day one day at a time."
"Sometimes people get busy and forget to enjoy the moment, but I know I will not do that this holiday season," she adds. "I have worked very hard to get to the place I am today and I am going to enjoy every minute of it!"
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Thursday, November 24, 2011
VTech V.Reader Interactive E-Reading System
Reading comes to life with the VTech V. Reader Interactive E-Reading System ($59.99 list). This storyteller learning system brings books to life and makes reading vivid and fun for your child! Kids can touch and play as they learn core reading skills, touch the screen to read the story, and play interactive reading games.
With the V.Reader Interactive E-Reading System, children will discover the joy of reading while interacting with well-loved characters like Elmo and Disney Princesses. As the stories come alive with animations and sounds on the color touch screen, children take a journey into a world of imagination while developing the necessary building blocks to grow from a pre-reader to a confident and fluent reader. The V.Reader comes pre-loaded with the "What's That Noise" storybook and fun applications such as a Photo Viewer, Video Player, and art activities. Additional storybook cartridges (sold separately) offer new stories and adventures and feature a fully narrated and animated story, reading skill games, and a Story Dictionary. You can even download additional e-books, avatars, and themes while tracking your child's progress on VTech's Learning Lodge Navigator.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/GfYRIZd9rNk/0,2817,2396650,00.asp
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