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Following from http://www.online-literature.com/for...postcount=267:

A huge table and chair have been erected on Hampstead Heath in London. It's an artwork called The Writer, by Italian Giancarlo Neri. But what does it mean? Here are 10 interpretations - add your own at the bottom.

1. It's about writers' block. Simon Gillespie, of the ROLLO gallery which arranged the installation, states: "For me, The Writer works on many different levels but succinctly, it summarises the pressure one can feel in front of a blank page."

2. It's about absurd self-deprecation. Poet Olivia Cole says: "[T]he desk looming ridiculously large, there's as much hopelessness as hopefulness and as much absurd self-deprecation as lyricism. Writers seem less appealing than the broken story of life interrupted."

3. It's just for effect. The London News Review says: "The chair is pushed into the table. The writer is not at his desk. The act of writing is not being done at this table and chair. Where is the writer? Presumably out with friends, or in bed with two prostitutes. Either way, neither loneliness nor writing is celebrated in this work. If anything, The Writer celebrates shirking. However, it is obvious that the primary response one has to The Writer has nothing to do with writing or not writing, it is simply 'cor, that's big'."

4. It's about creation. Francesca Gavin wrote in BBC Collective that it "is sharp, funny and fits perfectly with its surroundings", and that it plays with the ides of "the epic process of inspiration and something fundamental about creation". "This epicness is highlighted by the location. At the base of a large hill, resting in an alcove of trees, the sculpture doesn't impose itself on the Heath but slots into it. The grass and trees are transformed into an invisible giant's garden."

5. It glamorises being a writer, and will make writers feel how lucky they are. Author Deborah Moggach wrote in the Guardian: "Stewing away alone, writers are prone enough to both self-pity and delusions of importance. This will only encourage them. What about a monument to the ghastlier life of a call-centre operative? Not only would it give them some much-needed recognition, but would make writers realise how lucky they are not to have to do it."

6. It's just original. Hampstead Heath local Mel Barrett, 33, says: "'It is so original it is great. So many writers have lived in Hampstead that it is fitting that it is here. I think it works well that it is so large and surprising.'

7. It's about the unknown... perhaps sex? Poet Michael Rosen says: "[People] are going to wonder about what's on top? There's a lovely not-being-able-to-see-the-top about it, and of course, people will think about all sorts of activities and what might be going on there. After all we have a mile-high club, well, we might get a 30-foot high club."

8. It's a glimpse into a private world. Columnist Natasha Walter says it "manages to look as if something has been pulled out of a private place and into the public arena. The table and chair are domestic, vernacular objects recast into public art by a playful imagination."

9. It's about size. But, according to Carl, a commenter on the Punclox weblog: "It's not big. We are just small."

10. It's about loneliness. Giancarlo Neri, the artist himself, says: "I will say that The Writer was prompted by the idea of the writer's condition: that in order to write about people and life, they actually have to set themselves apart. Of course, much thought went into the look, the colour, the style, but the idea is that it should suggest nothing in particular. It's as ordinary as possible. I think of it as a stage set waiting for actors who never come. In that sense, it's interactive."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4123406.stm

Indians are the world's biggest bookworms, reading on average 10.7 hours a week, twice as long as Americans, according to a new survey. The NOP World Culture Score index surveyed 30,000 people in 30 countries from December 2004 to February 2005.

Analysts said self-help and aspirational reading could explain India's high figures. Time spent on reading meant fewer hours watching TV and listening to the radio - India came fourth last in both.

The NOP survey of 30,000 consumers aged over 13 saw China and the Philippines take second and third place respectively in average hours a week spent reading books, newspapers and magazines.

Britons and Americans scored about half the Indians' hours and Japanese and Koreans were even lower - at 4.1 and 3.1 hours respectively.

Social change

R Sriram, chief executive officer of Crosswords Bookstores, a chain of 26 book shops around India, says Indians are extremely entrepreneurial and reading "is a fundamental part of their being".

TOP READERS

1. India 10.7 hours a week
2. China 8
3. Philippines 7.6
7. Russia 7.1
16. Australia 6.3
23. US 5.7
26. UK 5.3
29. Japan 4.1
30. S Korea 3.1
Global average 6.5
Source: NOP World Culture Score

"They place a great deal of emphasis on reading. That's the reason why they do well in education and universities abroad," he told the BBC News website.

"People educate themselves and deal with change throughout their lives. And the way to do that is to update themselves with books."

Mr Sriram says social changes have also made a difference: "Earlier people could turn to their parents and grandparents for advice. Now they turn to books."

Indian writer and editor, Tarun Tejpal, said the survey only made sense if it excluded the high numbers of illiterate Indians.

The National Readership Survey shows more than one-third of rural Indians and about 15% of the urban population is still illiterate.

"A lot of [book reading] is aspirational, getting ahead in the rat race, getting admission into schools and colleges etc. It has less to do with reading, more to do with rote," Mr Tejpal said.

Leading columnist, Venkateshwar Rao, told Britain's Sunday Times newspaper he could not see Indians flocking to book stores.

"Reading books just isn't a habit with them because they're not into cultural pursuits. It's not a part of their make-up. All they want to do is consume."

Mr Tejpal said: "A good book in India will sell only a few thousand copies, in the UK or US it could sell tens of thousands.

"It gives you a sense of what we value - in the UK or US if you haven't read a book in the bestseller list, you would be socially dead."

India's strong reading score may have helped push it down the TV and radio list.

Indians came fourth from bottom of the 30-strong list in both, with an average of 13.3 hours watching TV and 4.1 hours listening to the radio.

Thais were the biggest TV watchers, admitting to watching an average of 22.4 hours a week, while Argentineans listened to most radio.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4626857.stm

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

in the UK or US if you haven't read a book in the bestseller list, you would be socially dead."

---

i'm socially dead! :eek2:

New Jack the Ripper theories put sleuths in a spin

LONDON (Reuters) - A mental patient, a butcher, the artist Walter Sickert, a serial wife poisoner and even Queen Victoria's grandson have all been touted as Jack the Ripper suspects in one of the greatest whodunits in history.

But what if Jack the Ripper was not a Londoner, not even British? What if he was a merchant seaman, who pursued his blood lust as far afield as Nicaragua and Germany?

Ripperologists -- self-appointed sleuths on the Ripper's trail who number in the thousands -- are in a spin over a new book proposing that Britain's most famous serial killer was a merchant sailor who murdered when his ship was docked.

In London's grimy East End the Ripper slew five prostitutes over 10 weeks in 1888, leaving their throats slashed from ear to ear and lacerations up and down the bodies of all but one of the victims. Some of their organs were also removed.

Trevor Marriott, a former detective and author of the controversial new book "Jack the Ripper: The 21st Century Investigation," says police on the case wrongly assumed that the killer lived and worked in London's East End and failed to see a pattern between the dates of the crimes.

"I believe the police were blinkered and didn't choose to look at the possibility the killer could be a merchant seaman," he told Reuters.

LUCRATIVE INDUSTRY

The Ripper has spawned a multi-million pound industry in books, souvenirs, a musical and films -- most recently "From Hell" starring Johnny Depp -- showing that the public's fascination with the murderer is very much alive.

The macabre Ripper tour is by far the most popular walking tour in London, pulling in around 60,000 people annually, curious to visit the murder sites and haunts of the victims.

To the annoyance of local residents, the summer brings a surge in tourists to Whitechapel district, where blood from slaughterhouses once ran down the cobbled streets and around 40,000 prostitutes plied their wares by gas light.

Here, in the teeming slum beyond the city walls, the Ripper hunted his prey and then vanished into the twisting alleyways.

Marriott believes the murderer arrived on one of a handful of ships that were docked in or near the East End around the dates of the killings. However, records of their crews were destroyed or lost, making it impossible to focus on one sailor.

What Marriott did find were reports of six prostitutes carved up, Ripper-style, in Nicaragua over 10 days in January 1889, just two months after the murder spree supposedly ended.

These were followed by a similar killing in London in February, one in the German port of Flensburg in October and another in London in July 1891.

But the Ripper had no medical knowledge, Marriott says, contrary to some assumptions. Even if the Ripper were a practised surgeon, he would have trouble carving out women's organs in a pitch black alley, he argues.

Marriott suggests the organs were removed at the mortuary for sale in the thriving illegal organ market of the time.

His theories have set blogs buzzing among Ripper enthusiasts, who are estimated by some to number 50,000. One old hand called Marriott's findings "the same old cod," while others said the sailor idea had been around since the killings.

UNCLE JACK?

A second new book, "Uncle Jack" by Tony Williams, proposes the killer was the author's ancestor, Sir John Williams -- a gynecologist to Queen Victoria's children and the founder of the National Library of Wales.

Williams had set out to explore his family history when he stumbled upon a box of Sir John's personal effects, including a knife, three medical slides and diaries with the 1888 entries ripped out.

He discovered that besides his posh Harley Street surgery, Sir John had a clinic in Whitechapel, giving him access to the prostitutes who thronged the area.

His medical notes showed he had performed an abortion on the Ripper's first victim, Mary Ann Nichols, in 1885.

Williams believes Sir John was enraged by the prostitutes he saw getting pregnant while his own wife was unable to have children and killed them either out of vengeance or to use their organs for researching a cure for infertility.

"These women were having children left, right and center and he wanted this cure," said Williams.

However, shortly after the killings stopped, Sir John had something akin to a nervous breakdown, gave up medicine and returned to Wales for good.

Again, most Ripperologists were scathing of Williams' theory. "I felt so cheated after reading this nonsense I demanded, and received, my money back," wrote Horace Kelly.

But one, Amanda C, found his arguments convincing. Betraying what may be the real reason for such vehement skepticism from the sleuth community, she asked: "What will we all do if the mystery is solved?"

(http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050627/...NlYwMlJVRPUCUl)

FAUJA SINGH'S STATS

Born: 1 April 1911 in India
Former occupation: Farmer
Running career: Rediscovered at age of 81
Diet: Ginger curry
Marathons: London (5), Toronto (1), New York (1)
Marathon debut: London, 2000 aged 89
London marathon pb: 6hrs 2mins

It's just six years until the Queen's telegram lands on your mat congratulating you on your 100th birthday.

You're taking it easy, right? Slippers on, trips to the coast with a blanket on your lap and a short shuffle to the newsagent's for your Werther's Originals the closest you get to exercise.

Not if you're Fauja Singh - who can regularly be spotted flying down the streets of Essex in his spikes.

At 94, he's run seven marathons (five in London), countless half-marathons and was recently part of the world's oldest marathon team in Edinburgh.

Fauja's jogging skills were developed on an Indian farm in Punjab, and then at the magical age of 81, when he moved to the UK, his love for the sport became more "serious".

Next up? He's set his sights on being a record breaker.

And Asafa Powell might have to watch his back. The Jamaican may have the new 100m record, but Fauja's after eight of them - in one day.

On Saturday, London's Mile End Park Stadium will witness the great man attempting to set world bests for men over 90 in the 100m, 200m, 300m, 800m, 1500m, 1 mile, 3,000m and 5,000m.

The action starts at 10:30BST with proceeds going to charity and the event is in support of the London 2012 Olympic bid.

So any secrets to fitness? Fauja's training regime includes a daily eight-mile walk and run, no smoking or drinking, plenty of smiling and lashings of ginger curry.

100m WORLD RECORDS BY AGE
All: 9.77secs Asafa Powell
35-39: 10.03s Linford Christie
90-94: 18.08s Kozo Haraguchi
95-99: 22.04s Kozo Haraguchi

The pounding pensioner is already a superstar. Last year Adidas signed up Fauja alongside David Beckham and Jonny Wilkinson as part of its 'Impossible is nothing' campaign.

And next on the list?

More marathons - and coach Harminder Singh is trying to set up a showdown between Fauja and Japan's Kozo Haraguchi - the new 100m world record holder for the 95-99 age group.

Expect some serious fireworks on the starting line.

So, having only run seriously for the last 13 years, when does Fauja think he'll trade in his spikes for a zimmer frame?

"When I die!" he laughs.

So at least another 50 years, then.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/funn...me/4631111.stm

Two Texas students have been charged with arson after agreeing to torch a teacher's car so she could collect insurance money. Roger Luna, 18, and Darwin Arias, 17, were failing their chemistry class but got passing marks in exchange for stealing and burning the car.

Houston teacher Tramesha Fox hatched the scheme in May after falling behind in payments on her Malibu Chevrolet.

Ms Fox, 32, has been charged with arson and insurance fraud.

Suspicious

Ms Fox, of Aldine Senior High School, reported her 2003 Chevrolet stolen on 27 May. It was found burned out 12 days later near the home of Mr Arias.

On the last day of school, the boys allegedly took the unlocked vehicle from a shopping mall car park to a wooded area and set it alight.

Mr Luna and Mr Arias had been failing Mr Fox's class until their final exam but both received high enough marks to pass the year.

Investigators became suspicious when they discovered Ms Fox had bought a new Toyota Corolla a week before the Chevrolet was reported stolen.

She reportedly still owed $20,000 on the Chevrolet.

Fire investigator Dustin Deutsch, of the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office, said Ms Fox initially blamed the damage on students.

He said she provided a list of up to seven potential suspects which did not include the names of her alleged co-conspirators.

Mr Luna and Mr Arias were identified after investigators checked Ms Fox's mobile phone call list.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4641075.stm

A new picture by Leonardo da Vinci has been discovered, the National Gallery in London has said. It said experts using infra-red techniques found a drawing under the surface of the Virgin of the Rocks painting which hangs at the gallery.

It believes the drawing shows a woman kneeling with one arm stretched out.

Experts believe the Italian Renaissance painter was planning a picture of an adoration of the child Christ but abandoned the idea.

Leonardo was commissioned to paint the Virgin of the Rocks to decorate an altarpiece in a chapel in Milan in 1483. The artist appears to have painted two versions. One, which now hangs in the Louvre, was probably sold to a private client, says BBC arts correspondent Rebecca Jones. The other, which hangs in the National Gallery, was placed in the chapel in 1508.

It is under this painting that experts believe they have found a drawing of a kneeling woman.

She is pictured with her eyes downcast and one of her hands stretched out.

Experts think Leonardo da Vinci was probably planning a picture of an adoration of the Christ child, but abandoned the idea before drawing Jesus as a baby, our correspondent says.

However, why he painted over the work may never be known, she adds.

Milan arrival

The Virgin of the Rocks was the first painting executed by Leonardo after his arrival in Milan.

Critics have argued over exactly what the painting depicts.

Some claim it shows the Immaculate Conception, while others believe it recalls the moment when the infant Christ met St John the Baptist.

Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa, considered to be among the world's most famous paintings.

His other masterpieces include the Last Supper and Adoration of the Magi.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl...2265/img/1.jpg


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4639945.stm

Human settlers made it to the Americas 30,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to new evidence. A team of scientists came to this controversial conclusion by dating human footprints preserved by volcanic ash in an abandoned quarry in Mexico. They say the first Americans may have arrived by sea, rather than by foot.

The currently accepted theory is that the continent's early settlers arrived around 11,000 years ago, by crossing a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska.

Ancient lake

Dr Silvia Gonzalez of Liverpool's John Moores University and her colleagues found the footprints in the quarry, some 130km (80 miles) south-east of Mexico City, in 2003. But they have only finished dating them this year.

The footprints were preserved as trace fossils in volcanic ash along what was the shoreline of an ancient volcanic lake. They were soon covered in more ash and lake sediments and, when water levels rose, became as solid as concrete.

Dr Gonzalez was under no illusions that the finding would be controversial: "It's going to be an archaeological bomb," she told the BBC News website, "and we're up for a fight."

The team used several methods to date a variety of material from the site near Puebla, Mexico, in order to be sure they were right about the age.

"We have materials that have been dated below the footprint layer, the footprint layer itself and on top of the footprint layer. Everything is making sense," said Dr Gonzalez.

The researchers used radiocarbon dating on shells and animal bones in the sequences and dated mammoth teeth by a technique called electron spin resonance. The sediments themselves were dated by optically stimulated luminescence.

"Some lake sediments were incorporated into the ash and were baked. They look like small fragments of brick and these were the ones we dated in the footprint layer. They gave us a result of 38,000 years," Dr Gonzalez.

Land crossing

Under the traditional view, humans trekked from Siberia to Alaska across a land bridge that linked these land masses at the end of the last ice age (between about 10,000 and 12,500 years ago).

Central to the theory, called the Clovis First model, are Clovis points - the tools these settlers used to hunt large beasts, or megafauna, such as mammoths and mastodons.

"The existence of 40,000-year-old human footprints in Mexico means that the Clovis First model of human occupation can no longer be accepted as the first evidence of human presence in the Americas," said co-investigator David Huddart, of Liverpool John Moores.


Dr Michael Faught, an expert in early American archaeology, was reserving judgment until evidence was published: "It would be significant if it were demonstrated, but usually those (early) sites don't hold up well," he told the BBC News website.

But, he added: "There's more and more evidence that Alaska was not the only place people came into the continent."

Dr Gonzalez is a proponent of the Coastal Migration Theory. This proposes that people arrived on the west coast in boats, hugging the coastline from North to South.

But where these settlers came from is still a mystery, she says. Some have proposed that the earliest humans to reach the continent could have come from south-east Asia or even Australia.

Genetic studies of present-day Native American populations support a recent arrival from north-east Asia, which agrees well with an entry through the Beringian land bridge at the end of the last Ice Age.

Dr Gonzalez suggests that the earliest settlers may have become extinct, leaving no genetic legacy today. She thinks these hunters may have been highly mobile, living in small groups, perhaps explaining why they left scant trace of their presence.

Dr Gonzalez and ancient DNA expert Alan Cooper, of the University of Adelaide in Australia, have managed to extract genetic material from three molars belonging to Peñon Woman III, a 13,000-year-old partial skeleton from Mexico. The analysis is still underway.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4650307.stm

Green Tea May Protect Against Autoimmune Diseases

FRIDAY, June 17 (HealthDay News) -- Green tea, already lauded for its cancer-fighting ability, may also protect against certain autoimmune diseases, new research suggests.

Green teas inhibit the expression of antigens made by the body, substances that can trigger an immune response, explained study author Stephen Hsu, an associate professor in the School of Dentistry at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. He is to report on the research Sunday at the Arthritis Foundation's Arthritis Research Conference in Atlanta.

He focused on EGCG, a substance found in green tea known to suppress inflammation, and its effect on skin and salivary gland cells. In one autoimmune disorder, Sjogren's syndrome, the salivary glands are affected, causing dry mouth. In another autoimmune disorder, lupus, the skin is affected.

Hsu's team isolated 130 autoantigens from cells and exposed them to EGCG. Autoantigens are molecules in the body with useful functions, according to Hsu, but changes in either their amount or their location can result in an unwanted immune response.

Of the 130 autoantigens "most were inhibited or without changes" when exposed to the EGCG, he said. "Among them, a group of key autoantigens were inhibited."

While the research is very preliminary, he said, eventually green tea might help protect cells from being attacked by the autoantigens. Besides applications for the dry mouth that affects those with Sjogren's, Hsu said green tea might prove useful for the skin found in lupus.

The Georgia researcher speculated that EGCG modulates the presence of the autoantigens, in addition to its ability to suppress inflammation.

According to Hsu, other research with green tea in animal models has shown it can reduce arthritis.

The new study is "a significant beginning," said Nihal Ahmad, an assistant professor of dermatology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, who was part of a team in 1999 that showed that polyphenols (of which EGCG is one) in green tea could prevent induced arthritis in mice.

The Hsu research, he said, "appears to have great potential," though it "needs more work." However, "based on the cell culture study, we can only say that we can be hopeful."

(http://articles.health.msn.com/id/100107689)

(Sheep are gonna be sheep, I guess!)

Turkish shepherds watched in horror as hundreds of their sheep followed each other over a cliff, say Turkish newspaper reports. First one sheep went over the cliff edge, only to be followed by the whole flock, according to the reports.

More than 400 sheep died in the 15-metre fall - their bodies cushioning the fall of 1,100 others who followed.

The sheep belonged to villagers in the eastern Van province. Papers say the sheep were worth around £42,000 in all.

"Every family had an average of 20 sheep," one villager told the Aksam daily newspaper.

"But now only a few families have sheep left. It's going to be hard for us."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4665511.stm

If you think economics is all boring tables and pie charts - all "footsies" going up or down and other seemingly inexplicable events described in the pink bit of the newspaper that most of us discard - think again.

Steven Levitt, an economist at the University of Chicago and editor of the Journal of Political Economy, has won widespread praise and fame on both sides of the Atlantic for making economics, and specifically statistics, exciting.

There isn't a "footsie" in sight in his new book, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. Instead, Levitt applies economics to everyday life.

Taking something of a surreal approach to stats, his book analyses data to answer such eclectic questions as: Why do crack dealers tend to live with their mothers? Why is a man called DeShawn likely to have different job prospects from a man called Jake?

And the most controversial question of all in the book, is there a link between rising numbers of abortions and falling crime rate? (If you're itching to know the answers, don't worry - all will be revealed in a mere moment.)

Distasteful

Freakonomics has stoked controversy, become an international bestseller and won itself a cult following to boot. It has already topped the New York Times bestsellers' list and the Canadian non-fiction book chart, and Levitt has been hailed even by the normally stuffy Wall Street Journal as the "Indiana Jones" of economics.

"What I do is actually quite simple," he tells me during his whistlestop and, by the sound of things, quite exhausting trip to London to promote Freakonomics, published here this week.

"My book simply shows that you can use data to understand a modern world that seems incredibly complex. We show that, sometimes, you can make a little headway to understanding the world and its weird phenomena if you are armed with some of the ideas of economics, as well as the data."

My book is very politically incorrect, but not purposefully or ideologically incorrect

Steven Levitt
So, to return to the three taster questions posed above. Levitt carried out an economic analysis of a drugs cartel to show that the reason crack dealers tend to live with their mothers is because it's all they can afford.

He found that a crack-dealing outfit is usually a pretty ruthless pyramid-shaped organisation, where those at the top make a lot of cold hard cash but those who dispense the wicked white stuff on street corners tend to earn less than the US minimum wage.

Levitt analysed job market data to show that those with a "black" name - that is favoured by African-America families - such as DeShawn, are likely to have worse job prospects than those with a "white" name, such as Jake.

Why? "The kind of parents who name their son Jake don't tend to live in the same neighbourhoods or share economic circumstances with the kind of parents who name their son DeShawn," he writes in Freakonomics.

"A DeShawn is more likely to have been handicapped by a low-income, low-education, single-parent background. His name is an indicator - not a cause - of his outcome."

Snapshot

Then there is Levitt's economic analysis of abortion and crime rates, which has rattled America. He claims that Bill Clinton's apocalyptic warning of a crime wave in the 90s did not come to fruition because of Roe vs Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling of 1973 that legalised abortion in the USA.

He argues that the women most likely to have taken advantage of Roe vs Wade were poor and unmarried, whose kids - if they had been born - would apparently have "led unhappy and possibly criminal lives".

Do you see where the argument is heading? In a nutshell, Freakonomics claims that legalised abortion killed off many future criminals, using data to show that 20 years after Roe vs Wade there was a dip in the crime rates. It's a distasteful claim and it has stuck in the throats of many in the USA. But Levitt stands by it.


Levitt: Data can reveal a lot
"We simply followed the data and that is where we ended up," he says. "My book is very politically incorrect, but not purposefully or ideologically incorrect. It's just that we went with the numbers, regardless of whether our conclusions might cause offence."

This is a common theme in Levitt's book, indeed he says that relying on data to make sense of seemingly peculiar things is "the only unifying theme of the book".

But can we really hope to understand the world through stats, data, percentages and tables? Can making sense of society and why people behave as they do be reduced to a number-crunching exercise?

Isn't there a danger that Levitt overlooks political and social forces and the fact that people can shape their destinies, even if it's not in circumstances of their own choosing, in favour of turning humanity into something to be studied under a microscope?

Social phenomena

"No one individual could hope to explain everything that is going on in modern life," he says. "But we can offer a snapshot of why certain things happen. The data can reveal a great deal about people and their lives."

To me, this reliance on data is both the strength and weakness of Levitt's book. It is what makes his book fascinating and quirky, providing new ways of looking at old problems. But it also means that social phenomena are only ever described - and described in narrow numerical terms - rather than analysed or potentially resolved.

Indeed, when I suggest that some of the issues highlighted in Levitt's book are as susceptible to political solutions as much as statistical analysis, and that sometimes DeShawns do get as good jobs as Jakes, he responds: "Yes, but we cannot fundamentally reorganise society - that would be politically untenable and too expensive.

"Well, maybe someone smarter than me - one of those true scholars, perhaps - could tell us how the world should be. But I'm interested in using my skills as an economist to describe the world we're in now."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4674897.stm

well, i was in a car crash...roll over. I read in the news another kid rolled his car but everyone in the car died. I walked away with scratches....pretty weird.

glad you're okay, JWright.

Not quite news, but new research on old news (and interesting, nonetheless) --

Cell Phone Use Quadruples Car Crash Risk

TUESDAY, July 12 (HealthDay News) -- Drivers distracted by cell phone conversations quadruple their risk of a serious accident, according to new research out of Australia.

The University of Sydney study also found that hands-free mobile phones are no safer than handheld mobile phones while driving.

Researchers analyzed data on 456 drivers who owned or used mobile phones and had been in a traffic crash resulting in injuries requiring hospitalization.

As part of the study, they interviewed the drivers and used phone company records to assess their mobile phone use immediately before the crash and during trips occurring at roughly the same time of day 24 hours, three days, and seven days before the crash. This meant, in effect, that researchers could compare crash risks in the same driver at the same time of day, with the only difference being whether or not they were using their cell phone.

Reporting Tuesday in the online edition of the British Medical Journal, they found that cell phone use occurring in the 10 minutes prior to a crash was linked to a quadrupled risk of having an accident. The researchers also found similar results for the interval of up to five minutes before a crash.

This link between mobile phone use and increased crash risk held true irrespective of driver age, sex, or whether or not he or she was using a hands-free mobile phone, the researchers added in a prepared statement.

(http://articles.health.msn.com/id/100108359)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Connecticut Tuesday joined a growing effort to weed out marijuana-flavored candy from store shelves when its attorney general said he would sponsor a statewide ban on "Pot Suckers" lollipops.

Five other states have either banned or are considering a ban on the candy, causing New Jersey distributor ICUP to suspend further sales of the green candy as of June 28.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said the candy was being sold in novelty stores in large malls throughout the state, marketed with slogans such as "Every lick is like taking a hit."

The candy, which is flavored with hemp essential oil, does not contain THC, the hallucinogenic compound in marijuana, but Blumenthal called it "a gateway product" that "glamorizes drugs for children."

The candy has been banned by the Chicago City Council and in Suffolk County, New York. The New York City Council and the states of Michigan, New Jersey and Georgia are considering legislation to ban them.

ICUP president Steve Trachtenberg said reaction to the Pot Suckers "borders on ridiculous."

"Is it a novelty? Yes. Was it meant to encourage kids to use drugs? Absolutely not," he said, noting that more than 70 percent of U.S. candy consumption is by adults.

Trachtenberg said that in addition to suspending distribution of Pot Suckers because of the backlash, his company has put on hold plans for related items, including a hemp-flavored chocolate candy Buzz Bar.

Other marijuana-flavored candy products have found their way to the market place in recent months including "Kronic Kandy," made in the Netherlands and sold in the Atlanta area, and items from the Mary Jane Candy Company including "Ganja Pops" and "Icky Sticky Nuggets."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050713/...NlYwMlJVRPUCUl