The reading list
“The state of California outlawed LSD in the fall of 1966 and was followed in quick succession by numerous other states and then the federal government. In 1970, agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration released a comprehensive database in which they'd sorted commonly known drugs into categories, or schedules. 'Schedule 1' drugs, which included LSD and psilocybin, have a 'significant potential for abuse,' they said, and 'no recognized medicinal value.'
“… By waging war on psychedelics and their aficionados, the U.S. government not only halted promising studies but also effectively shoved open discourse of these substances to the countercultural margins. And so conventional wisdom continues to argue that psychedelics offer one of a few possibilities: a psychotic break, a glimpse of God or a visually stunning but fairly mindless journey. But no way would they help with practical, results-based thinking. (That's what Ritalin is for, just ask any Ivy League undergrad.)
“Still, intriguing hints suggest that, despite stigma and risk of incarceration, some of our better innovators continued to feed their heads—and society as a whole reaped the benefits. Francis Crick confessed that he was tripping the first time he envisioned the double helix. Steve Jobs called LSD 'one of the two or three most important things' he'd experienced.”
– From “The Heretic” at themorningnews.org
A quiz
How many people were in the U.S. according to the first census in 1790 (to the nearest 100,000)?
Wisdom of the ages
“If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there'd be a shortage of sand.” – Milton Friedman
Current wisdom
“I told those guys I wanted a big lead. I was like, 'You better give me a big lead going into the last lap,' and they gave it to me. I just wanted to hold on. I thanked them for being able to allow me to have this moment.” – Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps on winning his record-breaking 19th medal after he and teammates Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer and Ricky Berens took the gold for the 4x200-meter freestyle relay.
Quiz answer
There were 3,939,326 citizens in the 16 states and Ohio Territory.
Snob words
cathect (kuh-THEKT), v. – to invest emotion or feeling in an idea, object or another person, as in: “The editorial didn't feel bad about sneaking out of the council meeting early because he knew he would never cathect the drivel being spewed there.”
Today in history
On this date in 1693, Dom Perignon invented champagne; good man!
Now you know
According to a 2008 report, the average life expectancy in the world as a whole is 66.26 years.
