LINKS: Infocom, Blockbuster, water wars, fake shows, real drug addiction stats from the govt, UN pro-Islam censorship, what constitutes child porn?, Dollar Store tips

• WATER WARS: UN rejects access to water as basic human right — You have no right to live; you are a slave. “A hungry man is never free.” – Even truer for a thirsty man. They actually removed all references that recognized access to water as a human right from their resolution! Bottled water buyers have increased the potential profit so much that there are now likely corporate influences on global politics. The privatization of water has been one of the most important events to happen to us as a species in decades, is a much bigger deal than fighting over oil and energy, and is generally under-focused in the media. It’s only going to get worse. (tags: water rights UN)
• Read on for more stories.. Lots more today———>

 

LINKS: This Is Your Brain On God, and Comcast sucks.

This Is Your Brain on God. Very interesting article about research into stimulating your brain to make you perceive God. Other research has already shown that our brain has been hardwired to have religious experiences from the start, so this is the next logical step. By the way, Comcast HDTV sucks. Just look at these screenshots. Comcast is a shitty company. Drop them now. Find alternative ISPs using http://www.broadbandreports.com.

 

LINKS: Garfield comedy, RIAA lawsuits help musicians about as much as prozac helps depressed people, overly-harsh punishments

The peer-reviewed journal research article behind the news stories about antidepressants working no better than a placebo. This link was going to disappear from New Scientist story (New Scientist wants a subscription), so I needed to save it. Speaking of mental health, apparently if you take Garfield out of Garfield, you get a comic strip about Jon Arbuckle: A deranged schizophrenic man who talks to himself. It’s twistedly funny. Check out this comedy gold: Garfield minus Garfield. And also speaking of crazy — you know the RIAA lawsuits against the very fans who fund them? These were for the artists, right? WRONG! No artist has seen a penny. Just like the karaoke licensing scam, the artists don’t actually get any of this money, so it’s foolish to support such licensing under the guise of “protecting the artists”. So here’s the article: RIAA Keeps Settlement Money, Artists May Sue. Still, the RIAA isn’t as bad as Asshole Officers James Bryant and Chris Webley of Coquille — some guy broke a windshield, so, during the arrest, they broke his neck. He is now on a respirator for life. Of course the police think this is totally acceptable — after all, the guy swung at them! (Or so they say.) What this article doesn’t mention is that it’s more dangerous to be a fisherman, taxi driver, or garbage man, than it is to be a cop. They hurt people not out of self-defense, but unjustified paranoia. Douchebags!

 

SURVEY: Enneagram Personality Type (9 types)

Take the test. My results below. 9 types listed here. Thanks, Parthena.

 

LINKS: Failure to yield right-of-way? Bullet in the head. And the chest. And the arm. At least, if a cop is involved.

And, more importantly: Study finds that marijuana MAY work like Prozac, by increasing cell growth in the hippocampus, which is associated with decreased anxiety and depression.  Details below.

 

SURVEY: Do you have Asperger’s Syndrome?

Read up on Asperger’s Syndrome at WikiPedia, if you don’t already know what it is. I just took a 171-question quiz. Apparently, I am average, although it is pretty clear that in every category (especially “Talent”), I leaned slightly in the Aspie direction. That is, for almost every section, my neurotypical score was lower than my Asperburger score. UPDATE: 20100201: The test now has a version 2, so I took it again. I will place my new results below the old results.

Version 1:

Your Aspie score: 100 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 96 of 200
You seem to have both Aspie and neurotypical traits

Version 2:

Your Aspie score: 106 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 107 of 200
You seem to have both Aspie and neurotypical traits.

Do you have Asperburger’s Syndrome? Take the survey HERE and find out.

 

LINKS: Religion vs Science, lawsuits for listening to the radio at work, police taser suicidal man after he decides not to jump — so then he jumps, Cheney may have ordered a strike on Iran

Also: nutcase swat team cop kills six 17-20yos at a party, manhunt ensues, cop shot dead by other cops.  … And remember “The Anarchists’ Cookbook”? Now kids are going to jail for having it.  WTF?!?!?!  This whole planet sucks.  Beam me up Scotty… there’s no sign of intelligent life here.