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Again from The Register: Government mulls mind expanding drugs, man

Government mulls mind expanding drugs, man

Soma time
By Chris Williams
Published Monday 5th June 2006 11:25 GMT
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New Labour's top science advisor has told government a new generation of brain function-enhancing pharmaceuticals are set to change how people live their lives over the next 20 years.

In a presentation to ministers at Downing Street, Sir David King said “recreational psychoactive substances” will be used by healthy people to improve their cognitive abilities, The Sunday Times reports.

Just what is "new generation" about this? And what is "brain function-enhancing"? Half a million clubbers a week apparently take one or two pills to enhance the sensitivity of their snog receptors. Or maybe the sort of brain function-enhancing that gave us Alice in Wonderland and Sherlock Holmes? Or that great DFD (Debate Function Disinhibitor) Tetrahydrocannabinol? Whilst millions' of eyes are opened to appreciate true beauty after a few shots of good old alcohol.

Better the devils we know, I say...:)

Technorati Tags: drugs laws

For those of you highly skeptical of my prediction that the internet will cause the nation state as we know it to be unable to tax fairly incomes or transactions in goods and services and so cease to exist in its current form , here's a slightly different angle on it at Reason...

It seems to have finally dawned on the US government that whatever laws and regulations they pass, they will not be able to ban offshore internet gambling:

In other news this week about the internet and real life colliding, we also had Second Life being cited in a divorce case in the UK and a Japanese woman sued for murdering her husband's online persona.

Which are you going to be - more restrictions, ultimately futile; or building new mutual institutions to help deliver public goods in an era of a reduced ability to collect tax?

Today is "Independence Day" in Burma, now called Mayanmar by its brutal ruling military junta. Lest we forget what independence means to these people:

image63
Originally uploaded by acme

Yep. It has no alcohol until the bottom of the bottle. Hic! It's sweet and tasty. You could give it to a child in place of cough mixture. Definitely a gateway drug. Why are they allowed to sell it by the litre? No wonder they advertise it using prisoners!

If you're conscientious you should even manage one of your daily portions of fruit or veg in every glass.  But for me, I figured that frozen sweetcorn just wouldn't be nice in it so didn't boher!