get your enr on, from the makers of the hilarious get your war on.

William Fields turns the utterly pointless — albeit fun — googlewhacking meme into an intriguingly useful, potentially powerful community-building notion to which he refers as submonitions.

Good to see that Steve Baum is back to his inimitable yarn-spinning at Ethel the Blog again. His Jan. 25 short piece about some new options in peer-to-peer music distribution is intriguing, especially because I’ve (finally) arranged for a broadband ‘net connection instead of the 56K dialup that’s sustained me for so many years (I was an early adopter of the US Robotics Dual Standard modem, back when there were dual standards, and one of the first to upgrade to .v90). By the way, Baum is one of the luminaries who should have been invited to contribute to American Samizdat, IMHO. Dr Menlo??

Bitter Shack, which pointed me to this distortion of Oliver North’s 1987 testimony before the Iran-Cotra hearings circulating on the Internet in the aftermath of 9/11, called it “further evidence that conservatives are dumb.” Urban Legends Reference Pages

Brain Scans Link Two Key Pieces Of Schizophrenia Puzzle: this is big big news in the effort to elucidate the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, which affects around 1-2% of the world’s population. It has long been known that schizophrenic symptoms come from dysfunctions in two brain areas — underactivity in parts of the frontal cortex (which probably underlies the cognitive and ‘negative’ symptoms of the disease) and dopamine overactivity in a deep region called the striatum (probably related to the florid ‘positive’ symptoms — delusions and hallucinations — of the disease). Classical antipsychotic medications block dopamine in the latter areas, thus treating some of the dramatic symptomatic episodes but not more fundamental impoverishment suffered by the schizophrenic patient. The newer ‘atypical’ antipsychotic medications help to modulate, either instead or in addition, the frontal underactivity and thus allow more global restitution of function. But, although I and others have long suspected, it had never been demonstrated until this study by some of the luminaries of NIH (National Institutes of Health) schizophrenia research, that the dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex is primary and that dopamine activity in the striatum is under prefrontal control. The principal investigator comments, “These results provide a long-sought insight into the roots of dopamine dysregulation in schizophrenia. They suggest a possible treatment strategy that targets prefrontal cortex dysfunction, not just excess dopamine.” They may allow the rational, rather than trial-and-error, design of treatment strategies that would get at root causes, rather than slapping bandaids on end manifestations, of the illness. ScienceDaily

Cancer and Folie à Deux

(case report): In this case, the patients delusional system had a grave impact on her ability to make rational healthcare decisions, for which she was deemed incompetent. The first choice for her healthcare surrogate, her husband, was so affected by his sharing of her psychotic condition that he could not fulfill this role. In assessing a suspected case of folie à deux, awareness of several issues the point at which religious overideation becomes delusional, the spectrum of competency, informed consent, and treatment refusal is important.

Yale researchers are able to vaccinate users against the euphoriant effects of cocaine and prevent drug abuse relapse. The inoculations actually stimulate the immune system to produce anti-cocaine antibodies, à la classical immunizations, that inactivate cocaine circulating in the bloodstream. EurekAlert!

They are being dubbed the ‘Binmen’, a burgeoning number of Islamist terror suspects being detained as the UK wakes up to its enemy within. The Observer uncovers al-Qaeda links from Brighton to Bolton to reveal that Muslim extremism is not limited to a few fiery mullahs. Guardian UK

After Green Beret Operation, Townspeople Have Questions About Bound Bodies: Townspeople say the target may have been in error and that people in the compound pleaded for their lives, saying they would surrender. Corpses in the compound were burned after being shot; several were found outside with their hands bound behind their backs with heavy strapping. The bodies have beeen buried and are not available for examination. [If true, file under ‘barbarism.’ -FmH] “The Pentagon defends the raid as an appropriate military action,” reports the New York Times correspondent.

‘With his nomination of Mississippi District Court Judge Charles Pickering to the U.S. Court of Appeals, President George W. Bush is substantiating fears that he would attempt to turn the federal judiciary into a right-wing monster.’ Detroit Free Press

Wealth spawns corruption. ‘Physicists are explaining how politics can create the super-rich.’ Nature

Anarchist in the Academy: ‘Philosopher Robert Nozick died Wednesday, at the age of 63. Nozick, a Harvard professor from 1969 until his death, wrote on many topics, but he remained best known and most discussed for his first book, the National Book Award-winning Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974). This was the first book to make libertarian views on the nature and legitimacy of the state respectable in academia.

Anarchy, State and Utopia set out to prove, in a manner both intellectually rigorous and playful, that the only morally defensible state is one restricted to the minimal functions of adjudication and defense against force and fraud. No welfare state, no industrial policy, no bailouts, no anti-discrimination laws allowed.’ Reason

New technology raises concerns about grocery shoppers’ privacy:

You swipe your savings card against a screen mounted on a supermarket shopping cart. As you move around the store, the screen flashes ads for products you usually buy, notes that you haven’t bought toothpaste in six months, and provides recipes and health information.

All the while, your every move – including which aisles you go down and how long you spend in each department – is tracked for marketing purposes via the savings cards, also known as loyalty cards.

Such technology is in the works and privacy advocates – already concerned about the proliferation of cards that monitor customers’ purchases – are outraged. Fresno Bee

Marijuana’s Effects: More Than Munchies: “Scientists have …learned that the drug, which an estimated 70 million Americans have at least tried, may be highly addictive to a small percentage of those who use it.” NY Times

NASA’s on-again-off-again plans to explore the fringe are — for now — on again. NY Times

Bush Reconsiders Stand on Treating Captives of War. In an execrable display of hubris, Dubya ‘said he was reconsidering whether Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, should be protected under the Third Geneva Convention. But he quickly added that they were “killers” who would not be granted the status of prisoners of war.’

NY Times

And: Let Them Be POWs, editorializes Nicholas Kristof.

When I first wrestled with this issue, I thought I was going to wind up endorsing President Bush’s view that the prisoners are, as he put it today, “killers” rather than P.O.W.’s. But as I read the convention and talked to legal experts, it became clear that the administration’s arguments, while initially persuasive, have the disadvantage of being wrong.

To be more precise, they conflict with the letter and spirit of the convention. Moreover, as some in the Pentagon are quietly trying to point out, they set a terrible precedent for our own Special Operations soldiers. NY Times op-ed