NEW YORKER: Adderall, a stimulant composed of mixed amphetamine salts, is commonly prescribed for children and adults who have been given a diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. But in recent years Adderall and Ritalin, another stimulant, have been adopted as cognitive enhancers: drugs that high-functioning, overcommitted people take to become higher-functioning and more overcommitted. (Such use is “off label,” meaning that it does not have the approval of either the drug’s manufacturer or the Food and Drug Administration.) College campuses have become laboratories for experimentation with neuroenhancement, and Alex was an ingenious experimenter. His brother had received a diagnosis of […]
YOU ARE BEING WATCHED: You Cannot Hide
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Two FBI workers are accused of using surveillance equipment to spy on teenage girls as they undressed and tried on prom gowns at a charity event at a West Virginia mall. The FBI employees have been charged with conspiracy and criminal invasion of privacy. They were working in an FBI satellite control room at the mall when they positioned a camera on temporary changing rooms and zoomed in for at least 90 minutes on girls dressing for the Cinderella Project fashion show, Marion County Prosecutor Pat Wilson said yesterday. Gary Sutton Jr., 40, of New Milton, and Charles […]
WEEK IN REVIEW: The Good News Flower Hour
The Good News Flower Hour #17 Better late than never. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you might even learn something.
SECOND AMENDMENT: The Right To Bear Harms?
NEW YORK TIMES: Where were their parents? That was the thought I couldn’t shake ten years ago as news broke from Littleton, Colo., and all cameras were aimed at Columbine High School. It was my first national tragedy as a parent, and my perspective took me by surprise. A few years earlier I would have put myself in the shoes of the terrified students, huddled in classrooms, hiding under tables in the library. But on April 20, 1999, I felt for the parents. Racing toward the school building, stopped by police tape and SWAT teams, learning their kids were safe […]
ONE MILLION TWITS CAN’T BE WRONG: Can They?
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Ashton Kutcher has beaten off rivals to be the first member of the twitterati to secure one million followers. The 31-year-old actor had been in a race with news network CNN to be the first ‘twitterer’ to reach the milestone. And shortly before midnight Thursday he achieved his goal. MORE CNN: As of Wednesday afternoon, Kutcher’s Twitter account had 896,947 followers, putting him in third place in the number of followers. Britney Spears was in second with about 905,640 followers, and CNN’s breaking news account was watched by 937,787 people on the site. No single Twitter account has […]
PAPERBOY: Slow Jamming The Alt-Weeklies
BY DAVE ALLEN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week, PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and steer […]
I TWITTER, THEREFORE I AM: Meet Jeff Tweeney
Hey folks, Jeff Deeney here to let you know how this new Twitter project we’re rolling out will work. From now until Philadelphia no longer needs me for cannon fodder in the trenches of the War On Poverty, I will be posting the little overheard snippets of unintentional brilliance and frequently unhinged insanity that comprise the background noise of my work day. Think of it as Today I Saw for the ADD set; I will bring you the streets in 140 characters or less. All dialogue 100% overheard. You’re already a couple days behind, so start following the Phawker […]
STOP THE DEATH STAR I WANNA GET OFF: NSA Spy Matrix Runs Amok, Devours Fourth Amendment
NEW YORK TIMES: The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year, government officials said in recent interviews. Several intelligence officials, as well as lawyers briefed about the matter, said the N.S.A. had been engaged in “overcollection” of domestic communications of Americans. They described the practice as significant and systemic, although one official said it was believed to have been unintentional. The legal and operational problems surrounding the N.S.A.’s surveillance activities have come under scrutiny from the Obama administration, […]
STOP PIRACY: Help This Man Save The Internet
WIRED: Time Warner Cable plans to test its controversial, new scheme to have users pay by the gigabyte in Rochester, New York, but the area’s freshman congressman calls usage caps greedy and plans to introduce legislation to stop it. New York Democratic Rep. Eric Massa called TWC’s proposal to switch its 8.4 million cable broadband customers to metered internet billing an “outrageous plan to tax the American people.”Massa, a longtime blogger at the liberal site DailyKos, says he will be joined by a “legion of activists” and called the fight against usage caps a “national issue of generational consequences.” However, […]
WARNING: Reading The Philadelphia Inquirer May Cause Hairy Palms, Blindness, Eternal Damnation, Etc.
Not that there’s anything wrong with it. [Video: Afternoon Delight with John Thornton]
VERDICT: Phil Spector Guilty Of Murder
NEW YORK TIMES: Phil Spector, the rock music impresario behind hits like “Da Doo Ron Ron,” and “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling,” was convicted Monday of murdering a struggling actress at his mansion in 2003 after a night of drinking. Music producer Phil Spector, center, surrounded by his defense team during closing arguments at the retrial murder case in Los Angeles in March. Mr. Spector, 68, faces at least 18 years in prison. The jury, ending a five-month trial, reached its decision after 27 hours of deliberating whether he shot the woman in a fit of anger or, as his […]
Bankrupt Phila. Newspapers Denies That Paying Out $1.4 Million In Exec. Bonuses Was Mismanagement
INQUIRER: The filing by Philadelphia Newspapers called the senior lenders’ ire over a $350,000 bonus paid to chief executive Brian P. Tierney a “red herring,” designed to capitalize on public outcry over bonuses at AIG and other companies funded by taxpayer money. The filing said Tierney’s bonus was paid out of a pre-established bonus pool of $1.5 million, of which $1.34 million was paid at the end of 2008 to 45 employees. The filing also said the pre-petition lenders had previously offered Tierney a management-incentive plan that would have paid him more to work for them and institute their plans. […]
RIP: Delfonic Randy Cain Dead At 63
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Randy Cain [pictured, above right], a founding member of the soul group the Delfonics, which had such hits as “La La Means I Love You,” has died. He was 63. Cain’s death Thursday at his home in Maple Shade, N.J., was confirmed by investigator Rob O’Neal of the Burlington County medical examiner’s office, who declined to release other details. MORE WIKIPEDIA: The Delfonics are a Philadelphia soul singing group, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Their most notable hits include “La-La (Means I Love You)“, “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time),” “Break Your Promise,” […]