Am I Going Down? ” A guide to your likelihood of personally experiencing full loss equivalency.” [via metafilter]

The Skyscraper and the Barometer

“What does the unique election of 2000 mean for health policy in the United States? The answer is complex. The closeness of
the presidential vote and the divided Congress suggest that changes will be modest and incremental. Yet Democratic
and Republican voters differ sharply in their views on many issues concerning health care, such as the role of the federal
government and access to abortion…. In this article, we use data from public-opinion polls and other sources to highlight the differences in views on health policy
between Republican and Democratic voters. We then discuss the implications of the 2000 election.” New England Journal of Medicine

You can buy happiness… it costs
£1m . “Economists have for the first time discovered the price of
happiness, and it is at least £1m. New research suggests that,
contrary to folklore, money can bring happiness, but it takes a
large amount.” Sunday Times of London

The Famine the World Forgot. More than a million reportedly face starvation in drought-ridden Afghanistan. The draconian policies of the Taliban are destroying the livelihood of the country and willl prevent access to international relief agencies. This regime runs a close second, IMHO, to the Khmer Rouge’s fabled reign of terror in Cambodia in their ability to destroy their country with a slavish adherence to doctrine. UN Sanctions against the Taliban for harboring Osama bin Laden, on the other hand, compound the issue. Time

A couple of pieces about disparate English transplants to America:

“Swift, devastating and alert…, a first-rate hater”: The Guardian reviews Unacknowledged Legislation by Christopher Hitchens, English polemicist who has mastered “the fine art of causing maximum offence to most people,” although the reviewer admits he doesn’t understand much of what Hitchens fumes about, since Hitchens now writes from and about the U.S.

Getting uppity in suburbia: “While the sun has long since set on the
British Empire, its legacy lingers at a cul-de-sac near you.” Anglophilia graduates from cultural tradition to
powerful branding tool.
. Salon

Pylons are cancer risk – official. After many previous negative studies, an epidemiologist in the UK reports a small but significant increase in cancer risk among children living near high tension power lines. The article has links to take you further in investigating this issue should you desire. This finding may open a floodgate for lawsuits by affected families. Sunday Times of London

Knowing Thyself in San Jose: a visit to the world headquarters of the mysterious Rosicrucians. SF Weekly Online

CIA’s Anti-Drug Message for Kids; it joins other federal agencies in projecting a clean and sober message. However, it doesn’t come clean on its complicity in fostering international narcotrafficking.

I searched in vain on the CIA’s Web site for any mea culpa regarding the agency’s
support for counterinsurgency campaigns waged by various drug-smuggling “freedom
fighters.”

There was no mention of massive amounts of still unaccounted-for U.S. aid to
Pakistani military officers and Afghan mujahadeen rebel leaders, which helped
grease a major arms-for-heroin pipeline in Southwest Asia during the 1980s. Much of
the dirty cash was laundered through institutions such as the scandal-ridden Bank of
Credit and Commerce International, which functioned, not coincidentally, as a conduit
for CIA operations in the region.

At the same time in Central America, Lt. Col. Oliver North and high-level CIA
personnel aided and abetted big-time cocaine smugglers who ferried weapons to the
Nicaraguan contras fighting the Sandinista government.

How to Blow $700 Million a Year on a Bad Habit: “DARE, the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, took
its first step toward recovery on February 14 — it admitted it had a problem.
Eighteen years after its inception, DARE finally acknowledged what study
after peer-reviewed study has found: Despite expending $700 million per
year, the DARE program has not helped reduce teen drug use. In fact,
according to the latest government study, teen drug use has risen since 1990
and remains stable at record-high levels.” Tompaine.com

Michael Kinsley among the snobs, on O’Reilly Among The Snobs Washington Post

How to say “Oh my God! There’s an axe in my head!” in 68 languages. [via Red Rock Eaters]

Levy’s Nine Laws of the Disillusionment of the True Liberal [thanks, Ivan]

On Day of Sub’s Accident, Tour Was Its Only Mission. “The Feb. 9 training run of the U.S.S.
Greeneville, which led to the
accidental sinking of a Japanese
fishing trawler, was made solely to
accommodate the Navy’s efforts to
promote itself.” New York Times

On Day of Sub’s Accident, Tour Was Its Only Mission. “The Feb. 9 training run of the U.S.S.
Greeneville, which led to the
accidental sinking of a Japanese
fishing trawler, was made solely to
accommodate the Navy’s efforts to
promote itself.” New York Times

On Day of Sub’s Accident, Tour Was Its Only Mission. “The Feb. 9 training run of the U.S.S.
Greeneville, which led to the
accidental sinking of a Japanese
fishing trawler, was made solely to
accommodate the Navy’s efforts to
promote itself.” New York Times

On Day of Sub’s Accident, Tour Was Its Only Mission. “The Feb. 9 training run of the U.S.S.
Greeneville, which led to the
accidental sinking of a Japanese
fishing trawler, was made solely to
accommodate the Navy’s efforts to
promote itself.” New York Times