"Dave's Retirement Cake" written by Jim on estrip.org

07/15/07 05:32 - 72ºF - ID#40114

Dave's Retirement Cake

Permalink: Dave_s_Retirement_Cake.html
Words: 2
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: propaganda

07/12/07 09:40 - 76ºF - ID#40089

Terrible Anti Drug Commercial

I hate this commercial so much. What does it even mean? What is it trying to say and why does it think this is the way to say it? Do the people that made it think that it is somehow effective?

I can't stand pot, but this smug commercial makes me want to go out and find some and smoke it just to spite the idiots who condescend to everyone with this crap.

metalpeter writes at 06:21:12 07/13/07 - Comment #20766: I myself like some of the anti smoking and anti drug ads. There is another animated commercial that is along the same lines about how a dog is being neglected because the kid does weed. That one is from abovetheinflunace. I have checked out there site and think it is a good site and wish it expandend into lots of other topics. I don't know who put out this commercail. But I think that they are aimed at people who haven't tried drugs yet but will when they are older. I myself think that if someone wants to relax and have a joint no problem. The problem is that what happens a lot of times is that people do drugs to deal with things that they can and should deal with in a positive way. So when they are having a problem in stead of dealing with it they hide away and then use drugs as a crutch. What the ad is trying to do is let people know that drugs and specficly weed can change how you act. I think it is also trying to fight peer presure so when some kid who doesn't want to smoke weed but there budies are then they won't do it.

fellyconnelly writes at 04:48:41 07/13/07 - Comment #20762: you know... if they would quit focusing on marijuana and start making commercials about.. oh i don't know... meth? i might actually consider a bit of value to it... i think it is a bit more important to focus on the drug that seems to be turning the country into a bunch of soggy toothed trash trolls.

chico writes at 12:08:49 07/13/07 - Comment #20751: (e:drew) 's comment motivated me to do some Googling and I found a recent (2005) RAND report assessing the (still ongoing, of course!) "war on drugs". Maybe one reason why the ad campaigns (which I too think are idiotic) focus on pot is because many people still think of pot as a gateway drug to harder stuff, and if you can prevent kids from trying pot, you can prevent them from using coke, heroin, etc.

Here's what the RAND study (http://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/2005/RAND_OP121.pdf) said about the "pot-as-gateway-drug" issue (note the important point at the end, which fits with (e:bridgette) 's concern about alcohol):

< "While there is no doubt that some users move from one drug to another, it is not clear that use of one drug "causes" or even encourages use of others. In particular, use of marijuana has been called a gateway to other drug use, the notion being that marijuana use increases the likelihood of using more dangerous drugs like cocaine or heroin. This notion is at least plausible: users' appetites for other drug experiences might be whetted by pleasurable use of marijuana. The gateway hypothesis also appears to draw support from the fact that marijuana users are many times more likely to become hard-drug users than are people who do not use marijuana. Furthermore, people who use marijuana and hard drugs at one point or another almost invariably use marijuana first. However, such evidence is not by itself sufficient to support a causal relationship between marijuana and other drug use. It has been shown that the apparent elevation in risk of hard-drug use among marijuana users could also be explained by two factors in combination: differences in opportunities to use various drugs (marijuana is more readily available to young people than hard drugs) and the possibility that individuals differ in their propensities to try any drugs...The question of marijuana's gateway status has thus not been settled. It is noteworthy that marijuana's inferred gateway effect is a linchpin of the argument for differentiating marijuana control policy from alcohol control (although an argument can be made that alcohol might also be a gateway drug)." >

Hmmm... can you imagine what the beer/wine/liquor industry would do if the government funded public service announcements that showed a dog telling its owner not to drink alcohol? And can you imagine the television industry's reaction if beer/wine/liquor companies all decided to pull their commercials in protest of such PSAs?

drew writes at 10:23:07 07/12/07 - Comment #20737: There was this "War on drugs" ad campaign that government research actually showed to cause MORE drug use, and it still, after the research, got an increase in funding. I wish I had the info in front of me so I could be more accurate, but it cracked me up.

bridgette writes at 10:09:15 07/12/07 - Comment #20736: if her dog is talking to her, i dont think it's weed that she's smoking! Seriously, these commercials insult kid's intelligence. Drunks hit little kids on bikes, not potheads. See, people that don't smoke pot think these commercials are ridiculous, so people that do smoke pot think they're completely outlandish. Little 5 year olds are bringing heroine to daycare, 8th graders out in AZ are getting busted for being involved in Meth rings... and these stupid idiots want to waste mad $$$ making dumb ass commercials about pot that no one pays any attention to. How sad!

Permalink: Terrible_Anti_Drug_Commercial.html
Words: 80
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: movies

07/12/07 04:53 - 76ºF - ID#40083

HARRY POTTER ZOMG

I forgot this was opening tonight, but there were still tickets available.

Permalink: HARRY_POTTER_ZOMG.html
Words: 14
Location: Buffalo, NY

07/12/07 01:16 - 75ºF - ID#40080

Metaphotography

Paul and imk2

Permalink: Metaphotography.html
Words: 5
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: buffalo

07/11/07 08:37 - 71ºF - ID#40060

Summer Walks

Some of the trees on the parkways look ridiculous and naked, but I am glad they seem to all be making a go of it.

This old farmhouse at 700 Delavan (built in 1830 according to City Hall's website) looks so out of place with the city houses all around it now.

And this one burned down, recently I suppose? It's at 660 Delavan.

Permalink: Summer_Walks.html
Words: 67
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: work

07/11/07 05:29 - 76ºF - ID#40057

Roswell Lunches

I love having lunch at Roswell. Today I had stir fry veggies and chicken. It is hard to think about packing a lunch and bring it in, but I should start doing that to save money.

Permalink: Roswell_Lunches.html
Words: 38
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: buffalo

07/10/07 10:54 - 84ºF - ID#40046

St Joseph's New RC Cathedral

Today at lunch I was talking to (e:Paul) and (e:enknot) about the Cathedral at Utica and Delaware in Buffalo (some more links), construction of which started in 1912. Its two massive bell towers held the largest carillon of church bells in the country, but they were only rung once and had to be removed because they endangered the structural integrity of the towers once rung. "The largest bell was 4,000 lbs., the smallest twenty-five. The whole cost $25,000 ($435,000 in 1997 dollars). It was the largest carillon in America at the time."

Unknown Photographer

The twin steeple towers had to be removed 10 years later in the 1920's due to other structural defects, and by 1975 the entire Cathedral had to be torn down because of defects in construction, and the marble facing peeling away from the brick central walls.

Photograph by Victor Shanchuk

Permalink: St_Joseph_s_New_RC_Cathedral.html
Words: 158
Location: Buffalo, NY

07/08/07 07:53 - 80ºF - ID#40009

Mugging

(E:James) does his zombie face when I try to take his photo.

Permalink: Mugging.html
Words: 15
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: utah

07/07/07 11:41 - 72ºF - ID#39999

Utah Wildfires Tonight

My dad's house may burn down tonight. Depends on the wind. No rain in 4 months and everything's turned to tinder. They are packing up the truck. If firefighters come back, it will be to tell them to evacute.

I remember the fire last year as (e:james) and I came out of the paria slots up into Escalante - pillar of smoke covering half the horizon for three days after. A bizarre cap to our hike, which was two days in and aborted due to lack of water. I was pushing so hard to get put of the canyons I ended up with sunstroke, and had to wait in meager shade at the trailhead watching the fire take up more and more of the sky, while James hitched back to our car.

I'm also thinking about as a kid i'd watch fires on mountainside near our home, seemingly hovering midair at midnight, char and smoke of sap and sweet smelling wood. Fearsome, a guilty pleasure to watch - enjoying it but knowing people's lives were being destroyed.