Major Mike’s Musings

As summarized in the Ivy Jungle newsletter, CNN reports an alarming trend:

Prescription drugs and “pharma parties” have become increasingly popular among teenager and college students. The National Center on Alcohol and Substance Abuse reports that the proportion of college students abusing opiods (i.e Vicodin, etc.) has increased 343% between 1993 and 2005. Tranquilizers (Xanax, Vallium, etc.) went up by 450% and abuse of stimulants like Adderall (an ADD medication) has increased by 93%. These drugs are easy to find in many home medicine cabinets. A CASA study in Minnesota and Wisconsin showed that almost a third of teenagers taking medication for ADHD had been approached to sell or trade their drugs. (cnn.com July 5, 2007)

Not only is this an alarming trend, it’s extremely dangerous behavior. Although marijuana can impede long term emotional development with chronic use, overdoses rarely result in death. Nor is marijuana as physically addictive some of these other drugs. Not that I advocate the use of marijuana.

Congressional leaders are recommending a 5 cent tax hike per gallon of gasoline at the pump to pay for repairs for the nations bridges. I say, “Pay it with pork.” Gas tax per gallon is already almost twice the price we used to pay for an entire gallon of gas when I began driving…that’s not even counting the price during gas wars.Let’s get real, folks.

Looks like my host repaired the FTP issue. Now it seems like everything is slow. It took 33 seconds to load the write page. Does it seem slow to you?

My host for this blog is having difficulty with its server. I tried to upload a modification to the index file for the theme I was using, but the server wiped it out. Now the theme renders a blank page. So I switched back to an old standby until they get it fixed. (bb this is the entire post).

In response to an earlier post, where I defended waterboarding as not being torture¹, my sister-in-law, Georgette, asks (more…)

1. I was not addressing the moral issue of waterboarding [↩]

“It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day-to-day basis.” — Margaret Bonnano

Thursday is golfing day with the golf group. Except today. It’s been raining all day. All day rain is unusual for central Florida. Central Florida rain comes in short downpours usually in the late afternoon. We have gullywashers, usually accompanied by lightning and thunder, where citizens run for cover to avoid becoming sopping wet or being hit by lightning. (more…)

Happy Birthday to my Eldest Unwed Daughter. Thank you for bringing us 38 years of joy and helping us to build our character. We love you.>