Kids and Drugs

Here's video that a father took of his son upon returning from dental treatment, which the kid underwent while drugged. The video shows the kid acting, well, drugged. It's massively popular, having received more than 12 MILLION hits so far.

The video wasn't easy for me to watch, since the kid looks confused all the time, and distressed some of the time. There's a part where he bellows out in what looks like rage, although it's totally disconnected from how he acts both before and after the roar. When I saw that, I could just imagine different parts of the brain kicking in and out of gear: Rage UP, inhibition DOWN, and voila - a kid who roars out of the blue.

Here is the URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txqiwrbYGrs

The kid, apparently, feels okay about the movie. Here's a video of him thanking all the viewers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWQSf27-P-U

The family recently started a blog, which You can find here: http://davidafterdentist.com/blog/ . I find the whole thing weird, and still wonder if the kid will pay a price for this in the future. I hope not.

Two comments from the original YouTube video that pretty much sum up how many people seem to react to the movie, and what makes me personally uncomfortable about it:

- "Yeah kids and drugs, hilarious."
- "hahahahahahahaha priceless! he's going to be a funny drunk when he is older"

(to be fair, I think this spoof is pretty hysterical: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGTAnXqn9Jc)

Beautiful Award: Action Teaching about Youth Violence

I found this very inspiring. Perhaps You will, too:

2009 Action Teaching Award Winner

Why the navy should provide tango training

I often think (and say) that the most dangerous time on the tango floor is when there are only two couples dancing. It's almost as though the two couples gravitate toward each other (or perhaps they just feel that since they're almost alone on the floor, they don't really need to pay that much attention?), and before You know it - WHAM, excuse me, ha ha, how could we bump into each other when it's just us on the floor, okay, tango on.

Anyhow, it turns out this phenomenon is not limited to tango dancers - it also happens to nuclear submarines. And I wonder - did the captains ever receive any tango training?

Your illegal drug tax money at work

This is amazing. Amazing.

I met with friends last night, and at some point one of them mentioned drug stamps. We all stared for a while, and then continued to stare when he explained that some states impose a tax on the sales of illegal drugs.

- "But how can people pay a tax on something that's not legal to sell or buy?"
- "I know, I know," he replied calmly, "but there's still a tax."

Well, out came Lori's iPhone, and there seemed to be some supporting evidence for this crazy notion. We couldn't quite figure it out, but it seemed like this drug tax actually existed.

Well, Samir is a serious guy. A few minutes ago he sent me this link to the Kansas Department of Revenue.

Notice that, when purchasing stamps to prove that You paid tax on your illegal drugs, personal checks are not an acceptable method of payment.

Cash is good, though.

Unbelievable.

Snowladelphia!

It's been snowing and cold here for a while - winter time in Philadelphia! I realized I was getting used to the temperature when, a couple of days ago, it reached freezing (that is, went UP to freezing). It was about 36 degrees Fahrenheit (about 3 degrees Celsius), and I was outside in the T-shirt, enjoying the sun. Crazy.

It also gets very icy. The ice can be hard to see, and even when I'm being careful, walking slowly and all, I slip a bit every once in a while. I had my first big crash (and hopefully the last for a while). I fell onto my side and bruised my thigh and my arm. Not to worry: The laptop is fine. :-)

Walking by Clark Park today, I passed my favorite area: The dog bowl. I'm used to seeing it filled with people and dogs playing frisbee, soccer, and what-not. Today it had a different feel, but still made me smile. Enjoy: