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The War on Drugs: Portugal’s Decriminalization Policy Success

Deaths from street drug overdoses dropped from around 400 to 290 annually, and the number of new HIV cases caused by using dirty needles to inject heroin, cocaine and other illegal substances plummeted from nearly 1,400 in 2000 to about 400 in 2006, according to a report released recently by the Cato Institute, a Washington, D.C, libertarian think tank.

via 5 Years After: Portugal’s Drug Decriminalization Policy Shows Positive Results: Scientific American.

Hitler finds out Michael Jackson has died. Cancel the clown.

Mashup of the film “Downfall” with english subtitles.

YouTube – Hitler finds out Michael Jackson has died..

How To Keep your Geek Male Running Smoothly

5 Tips on Proper Geek Male Maintenance

1. Hurty Brain – Hurty Brain stems from the repeated misfiring of synapses that occurs when a question is asked of a geek that is light years behind what they specialize in..

2. Geek Males need play time. Whether it’s Xbox, Warcraft, or building PC’s from parts, geek guys need time to engage in said activities. Without harassment.

3.   Watch movies he likes i.e. “Buckaroo Banzai”.

4. Buying him a present? Giftcards. Giftcards. Giftcards.

5.   Lastly, and perhaps the most challenging…engaging the geek male in conversation….

via The Squees of A Geek Girl Diva: 5 Tips on Proper Geek Male Maintenance (or How To Keep your Geek Male Running Smoothly).

Geneticists Making a Less Malevolent Mosquito?

Environmental groups are being forced to take the morally precarious path of arguing against technology that could save the lives of millions of poor people.  The population of sub-Saharan Africa accounts for more than 85 percent of all the world’s malaria cases, and loses at least 750,000 people a year to the disease.

Scientists can introduce a genetically modified mosquito that will essentially neutralize a virus from spreading via its normal network..in many cases through mosquito bites.

But what is the risk to the environment?    Mankind doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to trying to outmaneuver mother nature.

via Making a Less Malevolent Mosquito | Newsweek Science | Newsweek.com.

Web based Police Frequency Scanner: Calls to Orlando Police Department Google Map Mashup

Check out this near realtime Google Maps mashup of central Florida and calls to the Orlando Police Department.   You can get the data visually though Google Maps, an XML feed, or subscribe to one of the Twitter Feeds for each Zip Code.  (links are under the Map, and make sure you zoom in on the map to see the details)

Calls to Orlando Police Department.

Who the eff is Chad Miller?

So I was bored and playing around with Twitter search.  I type in “orlando” as my search term.  One of the results is this feed:

http://twitter.com/orlpol32801

I click on it:
Name: OrlPolice 32801
Location” Orlando, Florida

1. residential b&e at 221 E Colonial Dr, Orlando, FL 3280119 minutes ago from web

2. domestic disturbance at 100 S Hughey Ave, Orlando, FL 32801about 1 hour ago from web

3. man down at 300 E South St, Orlando, FL 32801about 1 hour ago from web

The content appears to be some sort of automated (damn-near realtime) Twitter feed of calls to Orlando Police Department in a certain zip code (in this case, 32801).  It had about 100 followers but wasn’t following anyone so it looked typical of an automatically generated feed.  But from where?

so I typed in http://twitter.com/orlpol32806

And sure enough…there was one for my zip code too.   Pretty slick.  In the Twitter profile of each of these feeds I noticed a website link:

http://web.chad.org/projects/orlando-crime/

Which brings up a fracking mashup of the Google Maps of Central Florida and all of the recent calls to OPD?!?!

Yeah…pretty cool, huh?   or just get the XML feed (nice) here:  http://web.chad.org/projects/orlando-crime/orlcrimedata.xml

So at the bottom of this page it says (get ready for this)

A project of Chad Miller. Copyright 2009.

Who the FUCK is Chad Miller?????????

So I do a little digging.   Of course, Chad owns chad.org.

Chad is 33 and lives in Orlando. He’s got a wife and kids.

This is Chad Miller’s “Work Blog” where he blogs primarily about MySql:  http://karateandvoodoo.blogspot.com/

This is Chad Miller’s “Personal Blog” where he recently blogged about experimenting with nootropic drugs: http://web.chad.org/blag/

Chad is the founder of Science Cafe, a “monthly gathering of scientific experts and interested lay community in a pub or other non academic setting. They explore the latest ideas in science and technology, using plain language. Admission is free, and you need no reservation—just come ready to listen and contribute. Please join us!” Heck…read all about it yourself: http://cafesciorl.com/

Just like the web isn’t “TV but Better”, the next jump won’t be “Web but better.”

“We can’t imagine ourselves without the alphabet and writing, and so in the same way we’re going to not be able to imagine ourselves without this other machine…”

YouTube – Kevin Kelly: Predicting the next 5,000 days of the web.

Before a kiss has been given, no one knows if it’ll be big or small. “Shall We Kiss?”

Thus is the central question of the film “Shall We Kiss“  (”Un baiser s’il vous plaît”).   Sometimes a kiss is just not worth the risk.   Many times it is.

This is a 2007 French  comedy with english subtitles, so immediately I hate it.  But it’s cute, in a french Woody Allen-ish sorta way.  It has some of the least sexy sex scenes I’ve ever seen, including Woody Allen’s entire body of work.   But I think that’s the point.

The “story within a story within a story” technique was clever but perhaps a bit tedious.   There’s probably nobody in it that you’ll recognize.   But the classical soundtrack was fantastic (but only if you’re into Schubert and Tchaikovsky).

Really, if you’re only going to see one French film with English subtitles this year, this is probably the one to see.   It’s playing at the Enzian this weekend…I’d check the movie website to see if it’s coming anywhere near you.  Shall We Kiss Website

Here’s what Roger Ebert had to say:  Roger Ebert “Shall We Kiss” Review

YouTube – Shall We Kiss Trailer.

Handy graph helps avoid being trapped in the “Friend Zone”.

I’d also strongly recommend staying away from the Zone of Pain as well.

Where Exactly Is The Friend Zone? | Top Cultured.

Conference founder Jeff Pulver interviewed during 140 Characters Conference #140Conf @JeffPulver

I was fortunate to have been there too.

YouTube – Jeff Pulver on the 140 Characters Conference.