Rats, drugs, Havarti, Red String, famine, joymaker

From heron61: rats not raised in cages don't do drugs. You may have heard that rats will self-administer cocaine until they starve to death, but it seems that holds for rats raised in isolated cages with nothing to do, as opposed to a colony of rats in a rat park, who'll go off drugs even when forced onto them.

People arrested for plotting murder of one of the Danish Mohammed cartoonists. (The excitement was two years ago? Eek, my poor timesense.) I can say that as a private counter to the boycotts, I started seeking out Danish cheeses; the baby Havarti at Sahara Mart is pretty good.

Sugar-substitute food causes rats to gain weight.

I discovered a new webcomic, pure shoujo: Red String. Liked it.

A review of Late Victorian Holocausts by Mike Davies, on the famines of colonialism.

Government as a car.

USA demands more and more information about foreign visitors or even overflights. Effect of the War on Terror on our tourism industry

I've discovered that SF authors such as Pohl, Heinlein, and Leinster thought of things like the Internet, cell phones, or both, going back to the 1930s.

I just read Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley, her latest novel, modern world + fantastic creatures including dragons. Good, not as awesome as Sunshine.

Fiedler Farm pork: reeaallly good.